Innovation Funding Incentive
Annual Report
Issue 1 – 31st July 2006
IFI Projects
April 05 – March 06
Prepared by
SP Power Systems Ltd
On behalf of SP Distribution Ltd and SP Manweb plc
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Foreword
Welcome to the ScottishPower EnergyNetworks’ Innovation Funding Incentive Annual
Report for 2005/06.
2005/06 has been an eventful year for the UK in terms of research and development in
the sector. Energy is very firmly on the national agenda and in the daily media following
the initiation of the Government’s Energy Review. The outcome has given rise to a range
of options on both the generation and supply side, which will have an impact on
transmission and distribution networks going forward.
It is clear that networks will become more complex in their design and operation while
the pressure for increased efficiency throughout the regulatory process will continue.
The application of new technologies to the networks is an important part of the response
to meet these challenges. To this end, I welcome Ofgem’s introduction of the Innovation
Funding Incentive framework. The IFI has given renewed vigour to our development
activity, facilitating projects that, although beneficial in the long term, would previously
not have been undertaken by a cash constrained Regulated business.
As outlined in this report, we have a number of exciting projects now underway across a
range of subject areas. Our commitment to these is strong and I look forward to seeing
our networks change and improve as a result over the coming years. Furthermore, I
welcome the opportunity to extend the implementation of a similar mechanism to our
transmission network through the current transmission price review where similar
challenges exist.
David Rutherford
Director ScottishPow er EnergyNetworks
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
Executive Summary
The first full year of the IFI mechanism for the Distribution licences has been embraced
whole-heartedly within ScottishPower EnergyNetworks. Our focus has been to develop a
portfolio of projects spanning not just our current needs, but also concentrating on
broader issues such as the impact a diverse and variable generation mix will have on our
networks into the future. Through this process, technological development has been
given renewed focus, moving up the agenda in the business and assisting in accelerating
the route to adoption.
Examples of successful technologies include LV fault location, a project that was taken
out of development early, and leading to the purchase of over 30 units for field use
following the strength of benefits derived in the initial phases. Another leading
development, applying intelligence to circuit breaker opening ‘signatures’, has led to a
product that is now in the process of being integrated into the business as a standard
practice both before and after 11kV switchgear maintenance.
At a more strategic level, our collaborative project with Rolls Royce, University of
Strathclyde and ITI Energy has been used to signpost the potential effects of distributed
generation and microgeneration on real 11kV and LV networks. The scenarios
developed within this project, focussing on the network of 2020, have fed into National
Electricity Network Strategy Group (ENSG) Horizon Scanning work programme as
industry leading.
We have levered our IF I portfolio further by engaging in a number of externally funded
and collaborative projects, giving not only uplift to our budget, but also giving direction
and steer to academia and manufacturers with net benefits to UK plc. The current tally is
for 4 successful projects via the DTI Technology Programme; leading industry roles in a
number of the EPSRC Supergen programmes; a strategic partnership project with
EPSRC, ABB and EDF -Energy and numerous other collaborative ventures with UK
DNOs.
Our focus for 2006/07 will continue to build on the foundations laid in 2005/06, to drive
projects towards delivery, increase the programme further and to ensure that research
outputs can be exploited in the most expedient manner. We hope to translate this success
across our Regulated business following the proposed extension of the IFI to include the
SP-Transmission Licence.
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
Introduction & Background
Context
As part of the most recent Distribution Price Control Review, Ofgem introduced two new
incentive mechanisms: the Innovation Funding Incentive (IFI) and Registered Power
Zone (RPZ). They were consulted on as an integral part of the DPCR proposals and were
widely supported by a large majority of consultees.
The primary aim of these two new incentives is to encourage the DNOs to apply
innovation in the way they pursue the technical development of their networks. Ofgem
recognised that innovation has a different risk/reward balance compared with a DNO’s
core business. The incentives provided by the IFI and RPZ me chanisms are designed to
create a risk/reward balance that is consistent with research, development and innovation.
The two main business drivers for providing these incentives at this time are the growing
need to efficiently manage the renewal of network assets and to provide connections for
an increasing capacity of distributed generation at all distribution voltage levels. These
are significant challenges that will both benefit from innovation.
Innovation Funding Incentive (IFI)
The IFI is intended to provide funding for projects focused on the technical development
of distribution networks, up to and including 132kV, to deliver value (i.e. financial,
supply quality, environmental, safety) to end consumers. IFI projects can embrace any
aspect of the distribution system asset management from design through to construction,
commissioning, operation, maintenance and decommissioning. The detail of the IFI
mechanism is set out in the Special Licence Condition C3 and the DG Regulatory
Instructions and Guidance (RIGs).
Registered Power Zone (RPZ)
In contrast to the IFI, RPZs are focused specifically on the connection of generation to
distribution systems. The estimates made by DNOs as part of the DPCR process
indicated that some 10GW of generation could be connected in the next five years. This
generation could connect at every distribution voltage level bringing new system design
and operating challenges. RPZs are therefore intended to encourage DNOs to develop
and demonstrate new, more cost effective ways of connecting and operating generation
that will deliver specific benefits to new distributed generators and broader benefits to
consumers generally. The detail of the RPZ mechanism is set out in the Special Licence
Condition D2 and the DG Regulatory Instructions and Guidance (RIGs).
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
Overview
A total of 36 IFI projects were undertaken by SP EnergyNetworks on behalf of both the
SP Distribution Ltd and SP Manweb plc Licence areas for the period 1st April 05 – 31st
March 06.
No RPZ applications were submitted to Ofgem during this period.
Summary Tables
The following tables have been taken from the Regulatory Instructions and Guidance
documents (RIGs). For completeness of IFI Reporting Year 1, the 2004/05 Early Start
summary tables have also been included.
2004/05 ‘Early Start’ Period
Table 1: IFI Summary - SP Distribution Ltd Licence Area 04/05
IFI Allowance (0.5% of 2004/05 turnover)
Unused IFI Carry Forward to 2005/06
Number of Active IFI Projects
NPV of costs and anticipated benefits from committed IFI
projects
Summary of other benefits anticipated from IFI projects
External expenditure 2004/05 on IFI projects
Internal expenditure 2004/05 on IFI projects
Total expenditure 2004/05 on IFI projects
Benefits actually achieved from IFI projects to date
£1.69m
£0
10 (end March 05)
£200,337
As outlined in 0405
Report
£69,034
£11,280
£80,314
N/A
Table 2: IFI Summary - SP Manweb plc Licence Area 04/05
IFI Allowance (0.5% of 2004/05 turnover)
Unused IFI Carry Forward to 2005/06
Number of Active IFI Projects
NPV of costs and anticipated benefits from committed IFI
projects
Summary of other benefits anticipated from IFI projects
External expenditure 2004/05 on IFI projects
Internal expenditure 2004/05 on IFI projects
Total expenditure 2004/05 on IFI projects
Benefits actually achieved from IFI projects to date
£1.1m
£0
12 (end March 05)
£410,814
As outlined in 0405
Report
£123,107
£25,488
£148,595
N/A
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
2005/06 Period
Table 3: IFI Summary - SP Distribution Ltd Licence Area 05/06
IFI Allowance (0.5% of 2005/06 turnover)
Unused IFI Carry Forward to 2006/07
Number of Active IFI Projects
NPV of costs and anticipated benefits from committed IFI
projects
Summary of other benefits anticipated from IFI projects
External expenditure 2005/06 on IFI projects
Internal expenditure 2005/06 on IFI projects
Total expenditure 2005/06 on IFI projects
Benefits actually achieved from IFI projects to date
£1,625,600
£812,800
34
£4,533,152
See individual reports
– Appendix C
£241,431
£71,884
£313,315
Too early to
demonstrate
Table 4: IFI Summary - SP Manweb plc Licence Area 05/06
IFI Allowance (0.5% of 2005/06 turnover)
Unused IFI Carry Forward to 2006/07
Number of Active IFI Projects
NPV of costs and anticipated benefits from committed IFI
projects
Summary of other benefits anticipated from IFI projects
External expenditure 2005/06 on IFI projects
Internal expenditure 2005/06on IFI projects
Total expenditure 2005/06 on IFI projects
Benefits actually achieved from IFI projects to date
£1,073,400
£536,700
36
£3,277,820
See individual reports
– Appendix C
£163,341
£70,207
£233,548
Too early to
demonstrate
Summary Table Notes
Internal expenditure for the 2004/05 period has been recalculated using the same hourly
and overhead rate as for 2005/06, giving rise to a reduced overall figure than that
previously submitted.
During 2005/06 and in the collation of this report we have revised our methodology for
NPV assessments1 for IFI projects, which has been reflected in the 05/06 figures. It is
noted that the figures described in the tables should be interpreted with caution, as the
figures quoted in the NPVs will only be realised upon completion of the project, and once
1
Detailed in Appendix B
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
fully adopted into the business. Costs in these tables are for the Reporting Year 1 period
only and are expected to increase as our developments progress.
Whilst some projects have now completed, or have been taken out of the development
phase early, they are still in the young stages of adoption. To this end, we feel that it is
too early to robustly show tangible benefits.
The following table shows the total breakdown of internal and external IFI spend in
Reporting Year 1, the expected IFI recovery and carry forward into 2006/07 for both SP
Distribution Ltd and SP Manweb plc.
Table 5: Reporting Year expenditure (Reporting Year = 04/05 Early Start + 05/06)
SP-Distribution
£310,465
SP-Manweb
£286,448
Total
£596,913
£83,165
£95,695
£178,860
£393,630
£382,143
£775,773
£365,253
£336,997
£702,250
£28,377
£45,146
£73,523
Total Expected Recovery @ 90%
£328,728
£303,297
£632,025
Total Carry Forward to 2006/07
(50% at 0.5% turnover)
£812,800
£536,700
£1,349,500
Total Reporting Year External IFI
Expenditure
Total Reporting Year Internal IFI
Expenditure
Total Reporting Year Expenditure
(1)
Total Reporting Year Eligible IFI
Expenditure with 15% internal exp
cap (2)
Internal expenditure at risk (1) – (2)
Cost Breakdown
As SP Power Systems operates across both the SP-Distribution and SP-Manweb areas,
successful developments undertaken in one part of the business will equally apply to both
licences. In line with this, costs have been split against each licence based on the
turnover and hence size of each network area.
Table 6: Cost Breakdown between Licence Areas
Licence Area
SP-Distribution
SP-Manweb
Annual Turnover (05/06)
£325.1million
£214.7 million
Percentage Split
~ 60%
~ 40%
Therefore, for projects with an equal application between both SP-D and SP-M, costs
have been apportioned on a 60% / 40% split (respectively). Projects identified as only
applying to one licence, or that apply in favour of one over the other have been scaled
accordingly (see Table A1).
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
Internal Costs
Internal costs in Table 5 are shown capped at 15% of the total technology expenditure, in
line with the guidance in the IFI RIGs. The detail given in Appendix B and C shown the
true internal expenditure for each project. This exceeds this cap for a number of reasons:
1. The number of new projects started in 05/06
2. Involvement in geared programmes / projects
3. The stage most projects are in their development cycle
Further details on the internal / external cost balance are provided in Appendix B.
Programme management of IFI for personnel in roles as a direct result of the initiative
have been taken as:
• 50% FTE – Programme Manager
• 25% FTE – Graduate trainee assistant
and applied evenly across all current projects.
Internal Innovation Mechanisms
Ensuring IFI projects are properly managed is an eligibility requirement set out in
Engineering Recommendation G85. Since the introduction of the IFI we have put in
place new systems, people and processes to manage and co-ordinate activities in these
areas. This includes:
• Technology & Innovation Manager – a single dedicated resource with the
Engineering, Asset Management department to co-ordinate the programme and
disseminate information (in post >12mths)
• Technology Implementation Programme Co-ordinator – a single dedicated
resource focussed on the delivery of trials, accelerating the IFI programme and
assisting in the creation of business cases for technology adoption (in post 06/07)
• R&D Strategy – an overarching strategy for IFI has been developed and
implemented.
• Project Inception Documents (PID) – the development of a standard PID to
capture information and the application assumptions made in the net present value
calculation at the start of a project.
• Procurement strategy – tendered IFI projects are now split into two phases:
feasibility and pilot. The feasibility stage invites companies to test their current
equipment in a real network environment in order to get a better understanding of
the work (and hence cost) needed to take to product into an operational
environment (the pilot).
• Legal conditions – SP has near standard terms and conditions and a formal sign
off process for IFI projects. This includes an agreed position for Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) stemming from these projects.
• Financial measures - new systems have been introduced to authorise and monitor
budgets for IFI projects.
• R&D Approvals Panel – a formal panel of business experts has been put in place,
which not only authorises IFI projects, but also ensures business awareness and
engagement. This panel is to become a management board for the IFI
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
•
programme, with a remit to keep track of projects and facilitate the exploitation of
benefits as they arise.
Project delivery – An increasing number of our 1st and 2nd year graduate trainees
are linked to manage IFI projects. This provides both keen and capable resources
for the day-to-day management of projects, and development opportunities for our
up and coming staff (the development of technology is a key IET CEng
requirement).
The use of the IFI has been to tackle a balanced portfolio of projects catering for both
tactical (current) and strategic (future) requirements of the company across a range of
issues. This ensures that funding is evenly spread across a range of issues, and not
targeting one or two more obvious areas. Detail of all our projects is included in the
summary tables of Appendix C, Table 7 gives a flavour of how some of our projects map
into the appropriate development area.
Table 7: Examples of projects by R&D category
Area
Asset ageing
Facilitating
Distributed
Generation
connections
Performance
improvements
Reduced
environmental
impact
Example Project
SP
Project
Reference
Circuit Breaker Intelligence
IFI 0407
Remote Line Temperature Monitor
IFI 0514
Thermal Modelling for Active Network IFI 0513
Management
Autonomous Regional Active Network IFI 0532
Management System (AURA-NMS)
IED Radio
IFI 0501
OHL Fault Passage Indicators with IFI 0406
wireless comms
Alternative Oil
IFI 0404
Tactical /
Strategic
Tactical
Tactical
Tactical
Strategic
Strategic
/
Tactical
Tactical
Strategic
Project Reports
Summary sheets for each of the individual projects have been provided in Appendix C.
In the interests of efficiency, only one summary sheet has been produced with associated
internal / external costs and Net Present Value (NPV) calculations for a whole project
(i.e. unless otherwise specified, they are not split by licence area).
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
Appendix A – Expenditure Breakdown of Projects between Licences
Table A1: Overview of 05/06 projects showing application between distribution licences
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table A2: Overview of 04/05 ‘Early Start’ projects showing application between distribution licences
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Table A3: IFI Reporting Year 1 projects showing application between distribution licences
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Table A4: Project NPVs, split between distribution licences
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Project Progress Curves
Expenditure profiles are described below to give an appreciation of costs that will be
required prior to a project realising a stated benefit through the development cycle.
Figure A1 shows a hypothetical expenditure profile for a development project.
Expenditure is defined as:
• External – Money paid to 3rd parties for work (consultancy, purchase of
equipment, monitoring, etc)
• Internal – SP EnergyNetworks’ staff time on eligible IFI development work
multiplied by the appropriate hourly rate. The success of a project is highly
dependent on the levels of internal support a project is given.
• Overall investment - The total cost of a project (predominantly external cost) of
which the company is accessing through collaborative or external funding
leverage. This is the combined investment from SP Power Systems and other
collaborative partners.
In line with sound project management, all IFI project s have been staged into milestones,
i.e. the R&D provider will only receive payment upon successful completion of a defined
stage. Whilst these costs will feature in following years, it does affect the balance of
internal to external expenditure in the short term.
Figure A1: Example Expenditure Profile for an IFI Project
As the diagram shows, the internal expenditure is likely to be high in the first year due to
the costs of initially scoping the projects, finding collaborate partners and identifying
appropriate R&D providers. During this phase external expenditure will be at a
minimum.
As Research and Development gets underway, the external expenditure will increase as
milestones of development are signed off and payments are made to the R&D provider,
during this phase internal expenditure will decrease and internal resources will be used
mainly to steer progress.
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
In stages of advanced development, the projects probability of success will increase and
external expenditure will hit its peak due to development work being accelerated. Internal
expenditure is also likely to increase at this point as the outputs from development work
will increase giving the project manager more tasks to co-ordinate as well as the
responsibility of devising methods of utilising developments.
In the field trial stages, external expenditure shift from bench-top development to
investment in contractors to install, conduct and monitor projects field trials. Even is
contractors are employed for this role, internal expenditure is likely to be high, a result of
the necessary training prior to installation.
When the project enters into the adoption phase, all expenditure will be ramped down.
Business cases will be made for the integrating successful projects into the company.
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Appendix B – Methodology for NPV calculations in IFI projects
Introduction
Engineering Recommendation G85 the innovation “Good Practice Guide” clearly states
that the expected benefits for IFI projects must be defined at the outset of the project. For
financial benefits the standard business approach is the Net Present Value (NPV)
calculation, giving a quantitative representation of the financial benefits that the new
technologies will bring verses the cost of the development.
As R&D is naturally higher risk than more traditional projects there are many factors,
which need to be carefully considered at a projects outset. As a result, the standard NPV
assessment approach must be altered to reflect this.
General Methodology
Risk can be factored into an NPV calculation in two ways, with both achieving similar
results:
• Applying a variable discount rate
• Using a separate multiplying factor to reduce the benefits.
In line with guidance from Ofgem, our NPV calculations utilise a fixed 6.9% discount
rate in line with the agreed cost of capital for the SP-Distribution and SP-Manweb
licences in DPCR4. We therefore introduce risk as a separate factor, the Probability of
Success to scale the benefits of each project, as described in the equation below.
N
NPV = ∑
t =0
Ct
(1 + i )t
Ct = (Benefit− Adoption Expenditur e ) × PoS − Development Expenditur e
t
N
i
Ct
PoS
time (in years) that cash has been invested in the project
the total length of the project (in years)
the cost of capital and
the cash flow at that point in time
the probability of successful development
Aside:
Benefit
Adoption expenditure
Development expenditure
–
–
–
Cash benefits for at a point in time
Adoption expenditure at a point in time
Development expenditure at a point in time
The logic behind the way the NPV, and in particular, the Ct factor is calculated is as
follows:
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IFI Annual Report 05/06
The cost of development will always be a direct cost, as the money will be spent if the
project goes ahead – there is a PV associated with this figure.
Benefits in the developme nt phase are scaled by the probability of success, the logic
being that if benefits are possible in the development phase, these will only be realised if
the development work is successful.
Both benefits and expenditure in the adoption phase are scaled by the probability of
success of development; the logic behind this is that expenditure will only occur in the
adoption phase if the development work is successful. Similarity the benefits in the
adoption phase show the same dependence on successful development.
Phasing
It is noted that if the NPV is taken on solely the development phase of a project, many
projects would not get off the ground. This is indicated in Figure B1, where, even by
showing the development phase split into two: feasibility and pilot, the magnitude of rollout in the pilot is generally too low to re-coup the original development costs (which can
be high). Assumptions on this uptake therefore need to be identified into the adoption
phase to ensure a credible result.
Feasibility
Pilot
Adoption
(Cost with no benefit)
(Cost with min benefit)
(Cost with full benefit)
£ NPV
Time
Figure B1: How a projects NPV changes over the course of its development.
Cost Assumptions
The costs of an IFI project for the purposes of the NPV calculation can be complicated to
quantify, often relying on a number of assumptions. As a minimum, the following are
considered:
Development Costs
• Cost to develop a product / service / etc
• Purchase of equipment (e.g. necessary equipment to commence the trial, e.g. units
for trial)
• Internal cost to project manage and steer
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• Cost of installation (equipment, manpower, etc)
Adoption Costs
• Anticipated product unit cost
• Anticipated installation cost
• Anticipated roll-out across network
Benefit Assumptions
Benefits too can come in a variety of manners. In some cases a direct financial saving
between an existing solution and technology solution may be possible, but in others we
must consider more complex mechanisms such as:
• the balance between capex reductions and increasing opex (for communications)
• the companies exposure to risk, be that Regulatory or Statutory (CI/CML,
environmental or the impact on safety, etc)
• improved understanding and targeting of investment.
Duration of Benefit
The NPV for IFI projects considers projects beyond the traditional development phase
and into adoption. In order to measure similar projects this has been simplified as:
• Current carrying Plant (e.g. cables, overhead lines, switchgear) – 20 year asset life
• Auxiliary Plant (e.g. protection equipment, comms, etc) – 10 year asset life
• Tools & Eq uipment (e.g. portable fault location equipment, etc) – 5 year asset life
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Probability of Success (PoS)
The Probability of Success is applied as a scaling factor to all expected benefits during
the development phase of a project, and can consequently, have a significant impact on
the financial assessment.
In order to give a level of consistency to the application of PoS figures, we have linked
our project Probabilities of Success to the concept of Technology Readiness Levels
(TRLs). TRLs were first conceived by NASA and are much used in military R&D as a
way of gauging a projects status and therefore risk by indicating how far a technology
development may be from adoption.
Table B 1: Technology Readiness Level / Probability of Success Definition
TRL
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Definition
Basic principles observed and reported.
Technology concept and/or application formulated.
Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of
concept.
Technology component and/or basic technology sub-system validation in
laboratory environment.
Technology component and/or basic sub-system validation in relevant
environment.
Technology system/subsystem model o r prototype demonstration in a
relevant environment.
Technology system prototype demonstration in an operational environment.
Actual technology system completed and qualified through test and
demonstration.
Technology System “qualified” through successful mission operations.
SP-EN
Assessment of
Probability of
Success
Not IFI Eligible
25%
50%
75%
Case Specific
Not IFI Eligible
(business case
stage)
Figure B2 show diagrammatically, the likelihood of obtaining benefits from a project to
its stage of development and probability of success. It is noted that this assessment is a
simplification, as it does not fully consider some of the non- linear steps, e.g. from TRL 6
– TRL 7, a commonly expensive transition, which can make/break a project.
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Scope of the IFI funding
Probability of Success Measures
50%
25%
High Risk
75%
Case Specific
TRL
TRL
TRL
TRL
TRL
TRL
TRL
TRL
TRL
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Risk
Research
Development
Demonstration
Adoption
Time
Figure B2: Relationship between Technology Readiness Level and Probability of Success
[Source (in part): NASA]
It is important to note that the TRL and PoS used in the NPV will be based solely upon
assumptions at the outset of a project. As IFI is a mechanism to encourage technological
developments, projects will naturally be driven up the TRL scale (with a rising PoS) as
they progress to trial and demonstration (specific information in project TRLs is given in
Appendix C). However, in the interests of efficiency, the NPV ca lculation will not be
revisited during the development phase.
The PoS has a significant bearing on the NPV assessment, as projects with a low TRL
will give rise much lower, and in some cases negative, NPVs if the development costs are
high, and the roll out is conservative. We believe this to be in line with the true spirit of
IFI, demonstrating that risk is being taken in areas where without such a recovery
mechanism, these developments would have been seen as too risky for a Regulated
business to undertake. By way of example, the AURA-NMS project starts from a low
TRL, and hence low probability of success; for the case study we have identified this
translates as a negative NPV.
TRL = 2
PoS = 25%
NPV = (-£101,920)
However as the project progresses, the TRL would rise, as would the PoS.
TRL = 4
TRL = 6
TRL = 9
PoS = 50%
PoS = 75%
PoS = 100%
NPV = £687,765
NPV = £1,477,450
NPV = £2,267,130
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Successful development of this project would also open up the options to deploy such a
system to more applications, further improving the scope for benefits.
Probability of Adoption (PoA)
In all cases for the NPV calculations, there is an assumption that once developed, the
technology will be adopted. However, R&D is inherently speculative in na ture and only
a small fraction of projects developed will actually be adopted within an organisation,
this being dependent on a range of factors such as:
• Scale / cost of Rollout
• Complexity
• Regulatory opportunities / barriers (Revenue / Penalties)
• Legislative barriers
All NPV assessments will be revisited and improved prior to adoption. Any lessons
learnt will feedback into our NPV methodology outlined above.
Although a figure has not been applied to the NPV calculations, it is recognised that only
10%-20% of successfully developed projects are likely to be implemented.
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Appendix C – Project Reports
IFI Projects: April 05 – March 06
Table C1: IFI 0401-1: STP Module 2 – Overhead Lines
Project Title
Strategic Technology Programme (STP): Module 2 - Overhead Networks
Project Description
This describes a collection of Overhead Line projects under development at EA
Technology SP-EN has invested in these projects as part as a collective of DNOs
Expenditure for
(IFI) financial year
Internal
External
Total
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by
project
Type(s) of
innovation
involved
Expected Benefits
of Project
£4,610
£36,000
£40,610
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal
External
Total
£1,240
£17,487
£18,727
Internal c. £8k p.a.
External c. £37k p.a.
Total
c. £45k p.a.
The STP overhead network programme for budget year 2005/6 aimed to reduce costs
and improve performance of overhead networks by increasing understanding of issues
that have a negative impact on costs and performance. The programme is expected to
also have a positive impact on safety and environmental performance.
c. £240k p.a.
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
The projects all address real problems that have been identified by the module steering
group members as significant and which require technical investigation and
development. The projects within the programme aimed to:
• S2120_2 - Improve detection of defective surge arresters in-situ with
selection and evaluation of the most promising solutions.
• S2126_2 - Undertake long-term monitoring of conductor temperature by
obtaining and analysing 12 months trial data.
• S2132 - Validate current and proposed new ice accretion models
• S2133 - Investigate the use of sacrificial anodes for protecting tower
foundations to defer or remove the need for full foundation refurbishment.
• S2134_1 - Determine the susceptibility of currently used surge arresters to
the principal modes of failure
• S2135 - Evaluate the life expectancy of copper conductors.
• S2136 - Participate in European Project COST 727: Measuring and
forecasting atmospheric icing on structures.
• S2138_1 - Investigate live-line jumper-cutting limitations Stage 2 is to define
a realistic experimental programme.
• S2139 - Begin to evaluate a new corona discharge camera system.
• S2140 - Explore possible means of checking the foundations of newly
installed poles
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
No
Yes
Yes
No
Due to the age profile of system equipment it is inevitable that, unless significant new
technology is used to extend asset life, CAPEX and possibly OPEX will need to
increase significantly to maintain the present level of network reliability and safety.
If these projects are technically successful and the findings and recommendations from
- C1 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
the projects are implemented, then the projects will potentially enable each DNO
member of the programme to gain benefits including:
• avoid redesign, reconstruction or refurbishment of overhead lines where this
is driven by a perceived need to increase ratings or strengthen lines, and is
required to conform with existing standards but which may be unnecessary;
• reduce levels of premature failure of assets;
• provide more cost effective and early identification of damaged insulators
and discharging components, which if not addressed would result in faults;
• confidently extend the service life of towers and reduce potential levels of
tower failures;
• reduce lifetime costs by the appropriate use of alternative materials.
Expected
Timescale to
adoption
Range 1-7 years dependent on project
Probability of Success
Range 2-10 years -dependent
on project
Range 5-20% - dependent on proje ct
Project NPV (Present Benefits – Present
Costs) x Probability of Success
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Duration of benefit
once achieved
£17,171
NPV developed by EATL on behalf of DNOs – not using SP
methodology
All projects are currently on target.
- C2 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Some projects within the programme are at an early stage, whilst others are complete.
Issues have been identified relating to both operational and capital expenditure, which,
if successfully addressed, would enable the expected benefits to be achieved.
•
S2120_2 - Improve detection of defective surge arresters with selection and
evaluation of the most promising solutions. Laboratory tests have determined
the most effective techniques and these have been presented to members with
recommendations for further action.
•
S2126_2 - Undertake long-term monitoring of conductor temperature by
obtaining and analysing 12 months trial data. The trial is continuing with the
expectation that the results will indicate it should be possible to re-rate (uprate) some overhead line circuits in certain circumstances.
•
S2132 - Validate current ice accretion models. The data currently being
collected will be used to revise national overhead line design standards
•
S2133 - Investigate the use of sacrificial anodes for protecting tower
foundations to defer or remove the need for full foundation refurbishment. A
practical reference document has been produced to assist in the application
and specification of such devices
•
S2134_1 - Determine the susceptibility of currently used surge arresters to
the principal modes of failure. The findings provide a review of the
capabilities of a range of surge arresters, allowing informed and more cost
effective specification of these devices.
•
S2135 - Life expectancy of copper conductors. The results of initial laboratory
testing of samples of varying age provided from UK distribution networks
will be available shortly. They should allow an initial assessment of the
overall condition of copper based conductors to be made.
•
S2136 - Measuring and forecasting atmospheric icing on structures. This is
part of a much larger European collaborative project aiming to provide more
accurate mapping of ice prone areas. This in turn will allow the most
appropriate structure to be constructed.
•
S2138_1 - Investigate live-line jumper-cutting limitations. Controlled testing
regime has been specified and this should lead to improved working practices
being adopted.
•
S2139 Begin to evaluate a new corona discharge camera system. This project
is at a very early stage.
•
S2140 Explore possible means of checking the foundations of newly installed
poles. An initial review of worldwide practice and commercially available
techniques has begun.
Project Status
March 06
Collaborative
Partners
Central Networks, United Utilities, Western Power Distribution, Scottish & Southern
Energy, EDF Energy
R&D Providers
EA Technology Ltd
- C3 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C2: IFI 0401-2: STP Module 3 – Cable Networks
Project Title
Strategic Technology Programme (STP): Module 3 - Cable Networks
Project
Description
This describes a collection of Underground Cable projects under development at EA
Technology. SP-EN has invested in these research projects as part as a collective of DNOs
Expenditure
for financial
year
Internal £4,897
External £63,5002
Total
£70,092
Project Value
(Collaborative
+ external +
SP-EN)
c. £280k p.a.
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £2,680
External £17,487
Total
£20,167
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal
External
Total
c. £8k p.a.
c. £37k p.a.
c. £45k p.a.
The STP cable network programme for budget year 2005/6 aimed at identifying and
developing opportunities to reduce the costs of owning cable networks. The reduction of
whole life cost through greater reliability and improved performance of cables and associated
accessories comes under the remit of Module 3. Where appropriate Module 3 worked with
other Modules to achieve common goals.
Technological
area and / or
issue addressed
by project
2
The projects undertaken within the programme during 2005-06 (include some approved in
previous years) aimed to:
• S3100_2 – Define better functional requirements for link boxes.
• S3108_2 – Produce software for assessing earthing practice on PME systems.
• S3115 – Determine the corrosion resistance of aluminium foil cables.
• S3120 – Assess novel flame retardant coatings for cables in basements.
• S3121 – Produce a cable fluid sniffer Stage 1(b) Feasibility study.
• S3123 – Produce a guide and specify functional requirements for the selection of
cable ducts.
• S3125 – Assess new degreasing products for MV and LV cables.
• S3126 – Explore issues associated with the use of polyurethane and development of
alternative jointing resins.
• S3131 – Produce a summary of CIGRE issues relating to HV cables.
• S3113_2 - Addition of duct bank modelling functionality within CRATER cable
rating software.
• S3113_3 - Addition of paper cable modelling within CRATER cable rating product.
• S3132_1 - Addition of HV polymeric cable modelling functionality within
CRATER cable rating software.
• S3132_2 - Addition of LV cable modelling functionality within CRATER cable
rating software.
• S3132_3 - Addition of cyclic and emergency rating modelling functionality within
CRATER cable rating software.
• S3132_4 - Addition of limited time rating of mixed circuit modelling functionality
within CRATER cable rating software.
• S3132_5 - CRATER cable rating software, overview report.
• S3132_6 - Addition of single core MV paper cable modeling functionality within
CRATER cable rating software.
• S3132_7 - Addition of cable crossing modelling functionality within CRATER cable
Includes £27.5k as part of SP buy in for CRATER development package
- C4 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
rating software.
S3140_1 – produce a spreadsheet tool for pulling-in of cables into ducts.
S3144_1 – Evaluate the Hydragel process for the treatment of redundant fluid filled
cables.
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
•
•
Type(s) of
innovation
involved
No
Yes
Yes
No
Expected
Benefits of
Project
If the projects are technically successful and the findings and recommendations from the
projects are implemented, then the projects will potentially enable each DNO member of the
programme to gain the following benefits, including:
• offset future increases in CAPEX and OPEX;
• savings of the order of 0.25 CML per connected customer;
• increased safety of staff and public by reducing the number of accidents / incidents.
Expected
Timescale to
adoption
Range 1-5 years dependent on project
Probability of Success
Range 2-10 years -dependent on
project
Range 2-30% - dependent on project
Project NPV (Present Benefits – Present
Costs) x Probability of Success
Potential for
achieving
expected
benefits
Duration of benefit
once achieved
£17,171
NPV developed by EATL on behalf of DNOs – not using SP
methodology
The Scheme is on target to deliver expected benefits.
- C5 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Collaborative
Partners
Some projects within the programme are at an early stage, whilst others are complete. Issues
have been identified relating to both operational and capital expenditure which, if
successfully addressed, would enable the expected benefits to be achieved.
• S3100_2 – Define better functional requirements for link boxes. A document that
defines functional requirements for LV link boxes has been produced for member
companies. Previously such a document did not exist.
• S3108_2 – Software for earthing practice on PME systems. An assessment tool has
been produced for earthing practice on PME systems which evaluates the
compliance with regulations and practices, carries out a check of LV cable circuit
design.
• S3115 – Corrosion resistance of aluminium foil cables. Tests have shown that
corrosion of the la minated aluminium foil sheath is likely if the outer sheath of the
cable is damaged leading to moisture penetration to the cable core.
• S3120 – Flame retardant coatings for cables in basements. Findings recommended
the use of a system consisting of a water-based intumescent coating and an
associated water resistant topcoat. This should give valuable long-term fire
protection to PE cables in basements and substations.
• S3121 - Cable fluid sniffer Stage 1(b) Feasibility study. Laboratory
familiarisation has been carried out and field trials are being undertaken.
• S3123 – Guide and functional requirements for the selection of cable ducts. A report
giving some advice on the use of plastic ducts in heavily loaded circuits has been
produced.
• S3125 - Degreasing products for MV and LV cables. The project defined a
suitable wet-wipe that will ensure satisfactory cleaning of LV, MV and HV cables
without adversely affecting their performance.
• S3131 – Summary of CIGRE issues relating to HV cables. An extensive report (140
pages) provides a comprehensive picture of work carried out by Cigré over the past
5 years, as well that currently underway and some that is planned. This places the
work of the Module in an international context.
• During 05/06 SP bought into the CRATER mo dule (having previously not been a
part of the early stages of development). Further developments to this software
undertaken during 05/06 include:
o S3113_2 - Addition of duct bank modelling functionality
o S3113_3 - Paper cable modelling functionality
o S3132_1 - HV polymeric cable modelling functionality
o S3132_2 - LV cable modelling functionality
o S3132_3 - Cyclic and emergency rating modelling functionality
o S3132_4 – Addition of limited time rating of mixed circuit modelling
functionality
o S3132_5 - CRATER cable rating software, overview report. The report,
which is in preparation, will cover a range of practical applications for
CRATER. The intention is that the report will form a handy reference to be
used in conjunction with the basic operating manuals.
o S3132_6 - Addition of single core MV paper cable modelling functionality
o S3132_7 - Addition of cable crossing modelling functionality
• S3140_1 – produce a spreadsheet tool for pulling-in of cables into ducts. Proprietary
software is being evaluated for this project, which is at an early stage.
• S3144_1 – Evaluate the Hydragel process for the treatment of redundant fluid filled
cables. Information has been collected on the two available processes and further
information is being gathered from members.
Central Networks, CE Electric, United Utilities, Western Power Distribution, Scottish &
Southern Energy, EDF Energy
R&D Provider
EA Technology Ltd
Project
Progress
March 06
- C6 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C3: IFI 0401-3: STP Module 4 – Substations
Project Title
STP Module 4 -Substations
Description of project
This describes a collection of Substation projects under development at EA
Technology. SP-EN is an invested in these research projects as part as a collective of
DNOs
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £4,327
External £36,000
Total
£401,327
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Expenditure in
previous (IFI) financial
years
Internal £2,680
External £17,487
Total
£20,167
Internal c. £8k p.a.
External c. £37k p.a.
Total
c. £45k p.a.
The programme of projects which were approved for funding from the STP
substations module budget and were undertaken in 2005/06 encompass both
developing new innovative asset management processes and practices and
developing innovative diagnostic techniques. The aim is to develop already well
established themes such as life extension of aged assets within legal and heath and
safety constraints, examination of new technologies, developing an understanding
of, and innovative solutions for, the impact on substation assets of increasing levels
of distributed generation on networks and condition monitoring techniques.
c. £280k p.a.
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Eighteen new projects were approved during the year (shown in bold below). The
projects undertaken within the programme during 2005-06 (include some approved
in previous years) aimed to:
In progress Projects
•
S0499 - Extend the TASA tap-changer diagnostic Trial.
•
S4107_2 – Field test on a sample of switchgear. the headspace gas testing
technique to indicate the condition of oil filled switchgear
•
S4180 – Develop an indicator to detect discharge activity in substations.
•
S4172 – Follow-up of S0455 paint preparation for tanks to determine the
longer term performance of the technique.
•
S4173 – Enhance the Transformer thermal rating assessment system.
•
S4178 – Testing and management of substation standby batteries.
•
S4181 – Ongoing programme of transformer post mortems to provide better
correlation between condition assessment tests, true condition and remaining
life.
•
S4182 – Develop a better understanding of frequency response analysis of
transformers.
•
S4186 – Study of PM cast resin VTs.
•
S4188_1 – Assess replacement insulator grease.
•
S4189_1 – Examine substation noise.
•
S4190_1 - Review of pad mounted substations.
•
S4193_1 - Develop a common approach to risk and reliability.
Completed Projects
•
S0497 – Transformer post mortems to assist estimation of remaining life from
non-invasive tests.
•
S4130_4 – Assess wipes for HV oil filled equipment.
•
S4149 - Assess the quality, performance and longevity of recent substation
equipment.
•
S4155 - Investigate ester based insulating oils.
•
S4162 – Extend the range of non-intrusive PD for > 90kV switchgear.
•
S4164 – Feasibility study into on-line tapchanger monitoring.
- C7 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Type(s) of innovation
involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
S4167 – Improve CBRM by use of better understanding of degradation
processes.
S4172 – Scoping studies on transformer refurbishment, fault passage
indicators, out of phase switching and fire legislation for substations.
S4174 - Compare a range of power system protection software.
S4175 – Assess circuit breaker cleaning techniques and materials.
S4176 – Compare available earth testing instruments.
S4179 - Explore in -situ testing of vacuum interrupters.
S4187_1 – Hold a risk modelling workshop.
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Issues with the age profile of substation assets within the UK electricity distribution
system are well known. Also, both regulatory and shareholder pressures preclude
substantial investments of the large scale that was seen in the 1950’s to 1970’s. The
challenge is to constantly review and innovate new solutions to monitor and define
asset condition thereby allowing risks to be clearly defined and sound investment
decisions to be taken.
Some projects within the programme are at an early stage, whilst others are
complete. Issues have been identified relating to both operational and capital
expenditure which, if successfully addressed, would enable the expected benefits to
be achieved.
Expected Timescale to
adoption
Probability of Success
2 years (average)
Duration of benefit
once achieved
10 years (average)
Success probability is expected to be 25% overall on the whole
programme of projects.
Project NPV (Present Benefits – Present Costs)
x Probability of Success
£17,171
NPV developed by EATL on behalf of DNOs – not using
SP methodology
- C8 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving
expected
benefits
All projects are currently on target.
Project Progress
March 06
In progress Projects
•
S0499 - Extend the TASA tap-changer diagnostic Trial. The original trial had a low
sample population and this work aims to increase the sample size. If earlier results are
confirmed then the technique offers the potential for non-invasive condition
assessment of tapchangers, with consequent improvements in network performance
due to avoided failures and reduced OPEX from better targeted maintenance.
•
S4107_2 - Headspace gas testing of oil filled switchgear. Working closely with
members, the project aims to collect headspace gas samples from units within the field
and resolve any GCMS issues. If correlation is successful then the project offers the
prospect of targeted maintenance and reduction of invasive inspections.
•
S4180 – Develop an indicator to detect discharge activity in substations. Results
suggest the device in its present form cannot reliable detect/indicator discharge activity
in many substation environments. This development will not be pursued within STP,
but related trials of an electronic NO x detector are being undertaken by the Discharge
User Group.
•
S4172 – Follow-up of S0455 Surface preparation of tanks. The performance of the
paint systems are being reviewed as a follow-up to earlier work.
•
S4173 – Transformer thermal rating system. This project is to re-develop the current
Transformer Thermal Rating software to enable members to assess BSP Transformer
safe loading limits.
•
S4178 – Testing and management of substation standby batteries. The project aims to
assess the effectiveness of Battery Impedance testing methods to replace traditional
discharge testing.
•
S4181 – On-going programme of transformer post mortems. Further work in this area
to build on the good results obtained in an earlier project, where a good correlation
between non-invasive tests and internal examinations had been shown
•
S4182 – Understanding frequency response analysis. Frequency Response Analysis is
a potentially useful condition assessment technique that can be significant in
identifying and defining end of life for grid and primary transformers. Initial tests have
produced some good results.
•
S4186 – Study of PM cast resin VTs. Members are completing an issues questionnaire
and testing regimes are being developed.
•
S4188_1 – Assess replacement insulator grease. The project is to compare the
performance of Insojell Grease with its proposed replacement, Dow Corning 3099
HVIC by performing a number of pre-specified accelerated aging tests.
•
S4189_1 – Examine substation noise. The project is investigating and clarifying the
issues surrounding substation noise and develop a common, agreed framework to
enable members to assess noise issues and take appropriate actions.
•
S4187_1 – Hold a risk modelling workshop. A workshop for members and experts to
discuss risk quantification was held.
- C9 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
•
Collaborative
Partners
S4190_1 - Review of pad mounted substations. The project will provide an overview of
members experience and identify any issues that may be arising through changing
legislation.
•
S4193_1 - Develop a common approach to risk and reliability. The objective of this
initial stage of work is to quantify the information requirements and determine its
availability. An outline of the approach to be adopted has been produced and is
currently being refined.
Completed Projects
•
S0497 – Transformer post mortems to assist estimation of remaining life from noninvasive tests. A good correlation between non-invasive tests and internal
examinations has been shown. This will assist in interpreting on-going non-invasive
testing of other transformers.
S4130_4 – Assess wipes for HV oil filled equipment. Final development and testing of
•
a new 3rd party high performance wipe, which was specially developed to the
specification, which was developed in early stages of the project, was undertaken. This
is now a product available for members
•
S4149 - Assess the quality, performance and longevity of recent substation equipment.
An analysis of failure rates and reliability of modern substation equip ment was
undertaken and has highlighted a number of issues which warrant further investigation.
•
S4155 - Investigate ester based insulating oils. The project concluded that both natural
and synthetic ester oils offer advantages over mineral oil in terms of biodegradability
and electrical performance although oxidation stability and viscosity are poor.
•
S4162 – Extend the range of non-intrusive PD for use on > 90kV switchgear. The
work identified the population of equipment suitable for PD testing, concluding that
some types would benefit from such testing.
•
S4164 – Feasibility study into on-line tap-changer monitoring. The project concluded
that it is possible to consistently characterise the operation of such devices using
acoustic emissions techniques.
•
S4167 – Improve CBRM by use of better understanding of degradation processes.
Mathematical models of asset ageing have been refined and calibrated in order to
improve the accuracy of CBRM results.
•
S4172 – Scoping studies on transformer refurbishment, fault passage indicators, out of
phase switching and fire legislation for substations. A series of short projects that
allowed specific issues to be examined before deciding if a larger project in that area is
appropriate.
•
S4174 - Compare a range of power system pro tection software. The available power
system protection software was ranked in terms of its functionality, cost and ease of
use. This will be used to assist members in making informed decisions.
•
S4175 – Assess circuit breaker cleaning techniques and materials. This project
assessed different techniques and materials for cleaning circuit breaker contacts. A
number of materials have been recommended together with a working practice.
•
S4176 – Compare available earth testing instruments. The project examined the
operation of a number of simple clamp-on instruments and compared their
effectiveness. The results showed that several instruments were quite inaccurate and
could give misleading results.
•
S4179 - Explore testing of vacuum interrupters. The project investigated current and
alternative methods of testing vacuum interrupters. It concluded that routine loss of
vacuum testing would provide little benefit. It would be more appropriate to determine
“at risk” interrupters and inspect these more frequently.
Central Networks, CE Electric, United Utilities, Western Power Distribution, Scottish &
Southern Energy, EDF Energy
R&D Provider
EA Technology Ltd
Project Progress
March 06
- C10 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C4: IFI 0401-4: STP Module 5 – Distributed Generation
Project Title
Strategic Technology Programme (STP): Module 5 - Distributed Generation
Description of project
This describes a collection of Distributed Generation projects under development at
EA Technology. SP-EN is an invested in these research projects as part as a
collective of DNOs
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £4,985
External £36,000
Total
£43,361
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
c. £240k p.a .
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £2,980
External £17,487
Total
£20,827
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal
External
Total
c. £8k p.a.
c. £37k p.a.
c. £45k p.a.
The projects undertaken through budget year 2005/6 were aimed at enabling cost
effective connections and ensuring techniques are in place to plan, operate and
manage networks with significant amounts of generation. Most projects also had
positive impacts on safety and environmental performance. The projects all
addressed real problems that had been identified by the module steering group
members as significant and which required technical investigation and
development.
Fourteen new project stages were approved during the year (shown in bold below).
Technological area and
/ or issue addressed by
project
The projects undertaken within the programme during 2005-06 (include some
approved in previous years) aimed to:
Projects in Progress
•
S5138 – Review of Industry Codes
•
S5147_3 – Monitor Microgenerator Clusters
•
S5149_4 – Explore Active Voltage Control
•
S5150_2 – Review G59/1 and G75 Protection and identify improvements
•
S5151_3 – Model Network Risk
•
S5142 – Define Generator Data and Structure for DG Connection
Applications
•
S5154_1 – Develop a Voltage Control Policy Assessment Tool on the IPSA
Platform
•
S5155_1 – Explore Lower Cost Connection Solutions for Distributed
Generation
•
S5157_1 – Evaluate the Performance of Small Scale Reactive Power
Compensators
Completed Project Stages
•
S5144 – Workshop on Regulatory and Economic Issues
•
S5145 – Dynamic Circuit Ratings
•
S5147_1 - Microgeneration Clusters
•
S5149_1 - Active Voltage Control
•
S5150 Stage 1 – G59 and G75 Protection
•
S5151_1– Network Risk Modelling
•
S5133 – Tapchangers Reverse Power Capabilities
•
S5143 – Produce a Draft Code of Practice on Stability
•
S5149 Stages 2 & 3 - Active Voltage Control
S5151 Stage 2 – Network Risk Modelling
•
•
S5152_1 – Examine the Latest Developments in the Connection of
Distributed Generation
- C11 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Type(s) of innovation
involved
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
With government policy driving significant increases in generation connection to
distribution networks the members need a range of innovative solutions to
connection and network operation issues that are cost effective and which maintain
the present level of network reliability and safety.
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale to
adoption
Probability of Success
If the findings and recommendations from the projects are implemented, then the
projects will potentially enable each DNO member of the programme to gain
benefits including:
•
Reducing the probability of voltage supply limit excursions resulting from
increased distributed generation (eaVCAT interface to IPSA software tool);
•
Improving quality of supply and reducing risk of component failure (by
understanding the effect and optimising use of impedance in the system);
•
A better understanding of the risk presented by the distribution assets when
considered as a network rather than discrete components.;
•
Greater use of distributed generators to meet current DNO obligations (by
assessing, from a DNO perspective, the implications of pending Distribution
Code provisions relating to distributed generation);
•
Reducing the amount of reinforcement needed (by use of dynamic ratings to
allow network components to be used to their full capability) - the use of
dynamic circuit ratings is a vital step in the move towards active
management of networks.
2 years (average)
10 years (average)
Success probability is expected to be 25% overall on the whole
programme of projects.
Project NPV (Present Benefits – Present Costs)
x Probability of Success
Potential for achieving
expected benefits
Duration of benefit
once achieved
£17,171
NPV developed by EATL on behalf of DNOs – not using
SP methodology
All projects are currently on target.
- C12 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Project Status
March 06
Some projects within the programme are at an early stage, whilst others are
complete. Issues have been identified relating to both operational and capital
expenditure which, if successfully addressed, would enable the expected benefits to
be achieved.
•
S5147_3 – Microgenerator Clusters. Installation of monitoring points is
currently underway and a new substation is being commissioned. Monitoring
will commence upon completion of installation and commissioning.
•
S5149_4 – Explore Active Voltage Control. Modelling of typical radial and
interconnected networks in preparation for flexing key parameters to
examine limits of active voltage control.
S5150_2 – G59/1 and G75 Protection. An initial review is complete and
•
further work is pending results from allied university project.
S5151_3 – Model Network Risk. Following establishment of user
•
requirements and review of available risk models and approaches is being
undertaken.
•
S5142 – Define generator Data and Structure for DG Connection
Applications. The generator data has been identified and a data structure
agreed. Rationalisation of this data should now be considered.
•
S5150 Stage 1 – G59 and G75 Protection. The Project Initiation Document
has been prepared and approved.
•
S5151_1– Model Network Risk. The Project Initiation Document has been
prepared and approved.
•
S5133 – Tapchangers Reverse Power Capabilities. It was concluded that
under certain conditions there is an increased probability of internal
flashover for single compartment tap-changers with single transition
resistors. Steps should be taken to increase the maintenance frequency or
de-rate the tap-changer to negate these affects.
•
S5143 – Draft Code of Practice on Stability. The draft code of practice can
be used to develop policy within each member company. It will facilitate
the connection of distributed generation by providing a guideline on stability
issues.
•
S5149 Stages 2 & 3 - Active Voltage Control. An overview of current control
practices and how distributed generation impacts on them has been produced
and a workshop held to explore the specific issues. This provides a firm
basis for in depth studies of how active voltage control can be implemented
and its advantages and disadvantages in different situations.
•
S5151 Stage 2 – Model Network Risk. The user requirements of a network
risk model have been defined, documented and agreed and will be used to
direct subsequent stages of the project.
•
S5152 – Latest Developments in the Connection of Distributed Generation.
Regular updates on new developments have been provided to members to
help inform and influence the research programme.
Collaborative Partners
Central Networks, CE Electric, United Utilities, Scottish & Southern Energy, EDF
Energy
R&D provider
EA Technology Ltd
- C13 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C5: IFI 0402: Single Phase LV Voltage Regulators
Project Title
Single Phase LV Regulator
Description of project
Development of a single-phase power electronic LV voltage regulator,
for connection into a LV line to provide fast response voltage
compensation for both over and under-voltages effectively managing /
mitigating LV voltage complaints
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £8,105
External £15,278
Total
£23,383
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area and /
or issue addressed by
project
Type(s) of innovation
involved
£214,440
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £2,990
External £0
Total
£2,990
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £17,500
External £123,500
Total
£141,000
It is envisaged that this device will primarily used as a means of rapidly
resolving voltage complaints in rural areas.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
No
Yes
No
The device may be capable of resolving both temporary and permanent
voltage complaints dependent on the type of complaint and the
economics of the situation.
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale to
adoption
Probability of Success
Where there is a clear case for network reinforcement, which would
require time to engineer the most cost effective solution, the voltage
regulator could be used to resolve the complaint whilst a reinforcement
scheme is designed, way-leaves negotiated and construction undertaken.
Where the voltage complaint is due to disturbing loads or unidentified
causes it could provide a permanent solution due to the fast response of
the device to voltage dips and sags.
There may be an eventual case where LV voltage regulators are used to
maintain statutory voltages, to compensate for a less static voltage on
the 11kV networks due to an increased penetration of distributed
generation.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1 Year
10 Years
1
50%
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Project NPV (Present Benefits – Present Costs) x
Probability of Success
Potential for achieving
expected benefits
The project is currently on target
- C14 -
£64,723
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Project Progress March
06
•
•
•
•
•
Specification produced and tendered
Design modifications agreed
Type testing requirements identified and currently in progress
Further modification approved to enable product to meet
specification
Delivery expected mid June with field testing commence Sept
06 (to last 12mths)
Collaborative Partners
United Utilities (for trial phase)
R&D Provider
MicroPlanet USA
- C15 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C6: IFI 0403: Reference Networks Phase 2
Project Title
Reference Networks - Phase 2
Description of project
The project will produce a practical software tool to create optimum
disaggregation groups and analyse existing networks and proposed
performance improvement strategies.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £3,914
External £60,000
Total £63,914
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of innovation
involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
£341,200
Expenditure in
previous (IFI) financial
years
Internal £2,700
External £0
Total
£2,700
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £2,400
External £5,000
Total
£7,400
A framework is being developed that will enable network performances
to be objectively compared, the differences to be understood and
explained, and cost and benefits of alternative distribution network
investment strategies to be evaluated.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
No
No
No
Ensuring that capital expenditure on improving the performance of the
network will be optimised in respect of applying the expenditure to
circuits where the greatest benefit can be obtained.
The financial benefits of greater understanding of network performance
drivers, and improved regulation are difficult to quantify but have the
potential to be extremely large.
Expected Timescale to
adoption
2 years
Probability of Success
50%
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits – Present Costs)
x Probability of Success
- C16 -
5 years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
£61,650
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for achieving
expected benefits
Project Status March
06
The project remains on-track to achieve the expected deliverables.
Good progress is being made in ensuring that the reference networks
derived by the developing software are truly representative of the real
networks from which they are derived.
The next stage of work will to run real network data from each
collaborative company through the developed models to assess impact.
Collaborative Partners
United Utilities, Central Networks, PB Power
R&D Providers
Imperial College London
- C17 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C7: IFI 0404: Alternative Insulating Oils
Project Title
Alternative Insulating Oils Project
Description of project
Applied research programme consisting of a series of investigations designed
to make a thorough evaluation of the electrical/ageing properties of alternative
oils for use in both aged power transformers and new plant.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,610
External £0
Total
£1,770
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of innovation
involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
£142,290
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £1,040
External £0
Total
£1,040
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £1,400
External £17,800
Total
£19,200
Evaluation of the Characteristics of Alternative Oils is being undertaken to
access the relative merits for Retro-Filling Power Transformers and filling
New Transformers with alternative oils have over using standard mineral oils.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
No
Yes
No
•
•
•
•
Reduced environmental risk associated with oil spills.
Potential to up-rate transformers at strategic sites.
Opportunity to improve Energy Networks credibility with SEPA and
other governing bodies.
Opportunity to improve Energy Networks reputation with regards to
environmental awareness.
Expected Timescale to
adoption
5 years
Probability of Success
50%
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1
Project NPV: (Present Benefits x Probability of
Success) – Present Costs
2
20 years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
3
4
5
6
7
8
£967,716
- C18 -
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for achieving
expected benefits
The project has been delayed by 3 months due to commercial reasons.
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
•
Comparison of dielectric properties under accelerated ageing and varying
temperatures, between ester based oils and mineral oil completed.
Comparison of dielectric properties, under different relative humidities,
between ester based oils and mineral oil completed.
DGA analysis and comparison between ester based and mineral oils
completed.
Oil impregnated paper breakdown tests carried out and comparisons made
between ester based and mineral oils.
Preliminary computer modelling studies underway.
Collaborative Partners
United Utilities, Central Networks
R&D Provider
University of Manchester
- C19 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C8: IFI 0405: Alternative Design for 132kV Overhead Lines
Project Title
Alternative Design for 132kV Overhead Lines
Description of project
The design of a new heavy Trident 132kV wood pole overhead line
specification, incorporating an underslung OPGW earth-wire for
counteracting the rise of earth potential issues and for
communications purposes.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £15,873
External £2,387
Total
£18,260
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area and
/ or issue addressed by
project
Type(s) of innovation
involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale to
adoption
£966,321
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £33,236
External £77,084
Total
£110,320
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £192,344
External £16,525
Total
£208,869
This is a project initiated to combat issues raised for the connection
of renewable generation in Wales (SP-Manweb network).
Following the development of a specification, this project aims to
construct a trial section of the line to identify associated construction
or maintenance difficulties.
Incremental
Significant
Yes
No
Technological
substitution
No
Radical
No
There are multiple benefits to this project, including:
•
Safety: Lower Rise of Earth Potential at substations through the
addition of an earth-wire
•
Environmental: A higher rated single circuit line may prevent the
construction of multiple overhead lines for a given network
connection – there is also a significant cost benefit to customers /
customer connections associated with this.
•
Provision of communications: May permit the use of active
network management into rural areas with previously poor
communications (again cost benefits).
Duration of
benefit once
achieved
2 years
- C20 -
20 years
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Probability of Success
50%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability of
Success) – Present Costs
Potential for achieving expected
benefits
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£92,425
Project is currently on target to deliver expected benefits.
•
•
Project Progress March 06
•
•
Specification complete and approved
There is currently a tender out for trial build of 7 – 8
spans of overhead line
Forestry commission land identified as testing site
Trial build expected summer 2006 followed by a
6mth trial
Collaborative Partners
N/A
R&D Provider
LSTC and construction contractor TBA
- C21 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C9: IFI 0406: Overhead Line Fault Passage Indicators
Project Title
Overhead Line Fault Passage Indicators
Description of project
This project seeks to pilot 2 variants of programmable fault passage
indicators to measure and record transient and permanent system faults on
both the 33kV and 11kV overhead networks.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,043
External £0
Total
£1,043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of innovation
involved
£329,794
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £12,224
External £0
Total
£12,224
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £6,550
External £44,323
Total
£50,873
Implementing a reliable fault passage indicator with wireless
communications for use on 33kV and 11kV overhead network will aid
the location and isolation of faults.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
No
No
No
More efficient use of operational staff searching for a fault due to the
indicators giving a more targeted area of network to search resulting in
reduced travel, an improved reaction time and faster restoration of supply
to customers following a loss of supply.
Expected Benefits of
Project
This innovation should improve CML figures ands significant potential to
reduce penalty costs.
Reduced damage to land through unnecessary access. This also has
customer service benefits, with a potential improved perception from
landowners.
Expected Timescale to
adoption
9 Months
Probability of Success
50%
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability of
Success) – Present Costs
- C22 -
10 years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
£589,499
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for achieving
expected benefits
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
Phase 1 of the project has been completed.
Phase 2 of the project has been delayed by 3 months due to limited
resources available to carry out work.
•
Trial with local communications on 33 kV line successful with conductor
mounted unit.
Trial with local communications on 11 kV line successful with pole
mounted unit.
Phase 2 communications to centralised location development approved.
•
•
Collaborative Partners
No formal collaboration, though informal knowledge sharing with United Utilities
for SP project IFI 0516 (see later)
R&D Provider
CHK GridSense Pty
- C23 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C10: IFI 0407: Kelman Circuit Breaker Intelligence
Project Title
Kelman Circuit Breaker Intelligence Analysis
Description of
project
Development of hardware/software “expert system tool” that provides
an assessment a circuit breakers’ tripping chara cteristics.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £6,036
External £112,544
Total
£119,623
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by
project
Type(s) of
innovation
involved
£413,582
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £7,505
External £37,471
Total
£44,976
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £0
External £0
Total
£0
This system tool is being developed with a view to reduce supply
interruptions by highlighting problems with the electrical and
mechanical mechanisms associated with 11kV and 33kV circuit
breakers.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
Expected improvement in network performance associated with stuck
circuit breakers of around 12.5% in the first year following
implementation.
Expected Benefits
of Project
Expected
Timescale to
adoption
Probability of
Success
Project will enable business to move towards condition-based
maintenance by providing measure of circuit breaker mechanism
condition.
Project should produce a quality stamp establishing circuit breaker
condition after maintenance helping reduce CI /and CML.
Duration of
benefit once
Adopted
5 years
achieved
75%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5 6
7
8
9
£-11,104
Figure is negative for conservative roll-out
and application of risk in calculation
- C24 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project Development has been completed successfully
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
Circuit breaker data collected from the network
Expert software tool created to recognise circuit breaker
tripping / closing characteristics and identity problems
ready for adoption onto tablet workstations and rollout in
the business
Single Server database of equipment information ready to
be integrated into SP-EN IT systems
Analysis server developed with two way communication to
and from the tablet applications
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
Strathclyde University / ITBS / SAIC
- C25 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C11: IFI 0408: Minimum Switchgear Project
Project Title
‘Minimum’ Switchgear Project
Description of
project
This project seeks to investigate, design and specify an alternative
switchgear / protection arrangement to the 11kV ‘unit’ protected
substations in the urban areas of the SP-Manweb network
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £6,411
External £0
Total
£6,411
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £5,010
External £0
Total
£5,010
Internal £2,500
External £0
Total
£2,500
The proportionally higher costs associated with creating and
maintaining a unit protected interconnected network at 11kV are
under increased scrutiny when benchmarked against conventional
radial systems. This project aims find an alternative with similar
performance at lower cost with the view of reducing capital
expenditure
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
£35,070
No
Yes
No
No
This project has the potential to reduce the cost of each 11kV
substation, thereby gaining efficiencies to target network spend more
appropriately.
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
If a design were found that would significantly reduce the cost of
this network design, it has the potential of being rolled out into
previously radialised networks to give the CI / CML benefits and
equipment utilisation associated with interconnected networks.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
2.5 years
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C26 -
10 years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6 7
8
9
£78,966
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project has been delayed by 6 months due to both technical and
resource reasons.
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
A number of early meetings were held with key internal
stakeholders, to discuss potential design changes
Commercial and Technical options on how to reduce costs
identified
Solkor panel value engineering exercise with current
vendor resulted in unsatisfactory cost-benefit solution
Technical specification under development for Solkor panel
tender
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
TBC Phase 2
- C27 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C 12: IFI 0409: LV Fault Location Devices
Project Title
LV Fault Location
Description of
project
A device is being developed for use on the Low Voltage networks to
capture transient fault information and correlate to an associated fault
location.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £7,835
External £0
Total
£7,835
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by
project
Type(s) of
innovation
involved
Expected Benefits
of Project
£184,800
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £5,000
External £7,638
Total
£12,638
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £7,100
External £75,000
Total
£83,100
The device is being developed preliminary for fault location on
persistent LV faults.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
Preliminary use of the device for fault location on persistent LV faults
is expected to:
• Reduce the number of repeated fuse replacements
• Minimise the number of joint holes
• Remove the fault from the system in a shorter timescale than
traditional ‘cut-and-test’ methods
Expected
Timescale to
adoption
1 Year
Probability of
Success
50%
Typically 8-10 years
depending
on
technology
development
TRL Development (Start – Current)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7 8
9
Duration of
benefit once
achieved
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C28 -
£2,119,996
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Phase 1 successfully completed and has been taken outside
development into adoption (30+ units purchased by business). Phase
2 underway to automate remote polling of devices. Project is
currently on target to deliver expected benefits.
•
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
Proved that the technology works
System still requires some development on the software.
Some work required getting round the problem of getting
communications when the locator is in a metal pillar.
Development of reliable auto-poling defined as urgent
requirement for central system to be operated from a
control room,
Individual units do not require further development.
Collaborative
Partners
Phase 1: N/A; Phase 2 (expected): EDF -Energy; United Utilities
R&D Providers
Kehui (UK) Ltd
- C29 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C13: IFI 0501: IED Radio
Project Title
IED Radio
Description of
project
This project aims to develop a new type of radio that links directly
into the pole-mounted switchgear and enables its own system to
behave as though it were an RTU.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £3,765
External £3,787
Total
£7,552
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
£23,389
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal £ 0
External £0
Total
£0
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £ 0
External £11,837
Total
£11,837
The new generation of Pole Mounted Auto-reclosers (Noja), and
Pole Mounted Gas switch (Novexia Auguste) equipment includes a
facility that allows it to be communicated to via a computer link, in
addition to hard-wired control and indications that are interfaced to
an RTU, which then communicates by radio to the NMC via the
Primary substation based equipment. To utilise the now available
functionality, this project aims to develop a new type of radio that
links directly into the pole mounted switchgear and enables its own
system to behave as though it were an RTU.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
No
No
No
The development of the IED radio will ultimately reduce the cost per
installation of network controllable points. Reducing the cost of
network controllable points will make it more feasible to install
them in more locations of the network effectively reducing CI and
CML penalties
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1 Year
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
75%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C30 -
2
3
4
5
£971,511
6
7
8
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project is on target to achieve expected benefits
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
Radius
Product developed, factory accepted
Integration into system due to occur in 2006/07
- C31 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C14: IFI 0502: Fault Level Monitor Project
Project Title
Fault Level Monitor Project
Description of
project
An ENA co-ordinated project the objective of which is the
development of an instrument that can successfully measure fault
level on a distribution network with repeatability and reliability.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,04 3
External £0
Total
£1,043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
£190,000
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £2,500
External £8,000
Total
£10,500
The device will connect to the network, and assess the
network source impedance from small-scale disturbances
resulting from transformer tap changer operation, etc.
This impedance can accurately be correlated to a true
network fault level for that location, providing near realtime information to network control and planning
engineers alike.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
The developed unit will allow the DNOs to accurately assess fault
infeed levels and design distribution networks appropriately
• it will facilitate the connection of distributed generation by
providing a standardised and accurate method of assessing
network fault levels.
• it will enable an ongoing assessment of the effects of
distributed generation to be made;
• it should help to satisfy generator developers that decisions
to upgrade networks are not subjective but based on
objective measurement.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 years
10 years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£92,045
NPV for ENA projects calculated on a per Licence
basis (as shown in Table A4)
- C32 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project Progress
March 06
Project is currently on target to deliver expected benefits.
•
University of Strathclyde commenced work on algorithm
for calculation of fault levels
Collaborative
Partners
ENA Member companies
R&D Providers
University of Strathclyde, EA Technology
- C33 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C15: IFI 0503: L36 33kV Overhead Line Spec inc. OPPC
Project Title
L36 33kV Overhead Line Spec incorporating OPPC
Description of
project
Development of trial section of 33kV overhead line (L36) incorporating
Optical Path Phase Conductor (OPPC) optical fibres for circuit
communications.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,043
External £0
Total
£1,043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Internal £10,300
External £35,000
Total
£45,300
A number of recent generation connections have led to a necessity to use
circuits with a connection capacity over and above the existing 33kV
ratings of c. 20MVA.
£50,000
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Within the design the opportunity has been taken to introduce Optical
Fibres into the phase conductors of the new specification as a robust /
economic means of communication.
Folllowing the development of a specification, this project aims to
construct a trial section of the line to identify associated construction or
maintenance difficulties. This installation will also be used as a training
facility to investigate potential O+M difficulties associated with fibre
optics in phase conductors.
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
Yes
•
•
Expected Benefits of
Project
•
•
No
Yes
No
Safety: Potential avoidance of unnecessary construction work
associated with traditional methods of providing communications
and hence reduction in the number of accidents.
Financial: Without this specification an existing connection
above 20MVA would require either the provision of two 33kV
circuits or a 132kV connection.
Communications are an
additional requirement that are becoming increasingly important,
this installation has the potential to reduce O+M costs associated
with third party
Quality of Supply: The L36 design is compliant with BS EN
50341:2001. This factors in some degree of failure containment,
giving the ability to perform in a severe weather environment and
ensure a more reliable means of connection.
Environmental: Potential reduction in the need for cable track
excavations consequently limiting the impact of the connection
works on the environment.
- C34 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1 year
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
50%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
40 years
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
£1,616,875
Project has been put on hold by 2 months pending commercial
agreements. Due to trial during 06/07.
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
Specification complete
Project currently awaiting tender to build trial line at SP
training centre, Cumbernauld
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
Design Phase: Lumpi Conductors (Austria)
- C35 -
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C16: IFI 0504: Fault Infeed Calculations
Project Title
Fault Infeed Calculations
Description of
project
A part funded project through the DTI Technology Programme this
aims to improve the quality of fault current calculations in
commercial loadflow software packages.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,043
External £0
Total
£1,043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
£116,500
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £2,500
External £2,500
Total
£5,000
The methods for calculating fault current contribution in
commercial loadflow packages, vary from vendor to
vendor. This project aims to assess the currently
available solutions to assess best practice and define new
algorithms to improve the quality of output.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
No
No
No
Fault current can have a significant bearing on reinforcement spend.
As switchgear does not have an overload capability for fault level,
when exceeded (either through load growth, motor infeed or
generation connections), investment is required to replace for higher
rated units.
Improved understanding at design stage would ensure investment is
targeted at optimum times, and on the most a ppropriate circuits. It is
noted, that new methodologies could increase the levels of
investment in a given network, however this would give rise to
safety and equipment longevity improvements in the long term.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
2 years
10 years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
-£12,603
The NPV of this project is negative, as it is
not expected to deliver any financial
benefits. The project aims to help the
business to target spend to ensure we have a
safe and secure distribution system.
- C36 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project is currently on target to deliver expected benefits.
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
Project successfully accepted at outline and full application
stages on DTI technology program
Project recently commenced
Network data is currently being collected for analysis
Collaborative
Partners
United Utilities, Central Networks, DTI (via Technology
Programme)
R&D Providers
TNEI Ltd
- C37 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C17: IFI 0505 Supergen V Amperes
Project Title
Supergen V
Description of
project
Supergen is an EPSRC strategic partnership programme
incorporating a collection of projects across a number of UK
academic establishments. This fifth call, Supergen V is entitled
Asset Management & Performance of Energy Systems (AMPerES).
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,610
External £0
Total
£1,610
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
£3,140,000
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £7,000
External £0
Total
£7,000
SUPERGEN V proposal is aimed at:
• Improving knowledge of plant ageing
• Developing condition monitoring techniques
• Developing plant with reduced environmental impact
• Developing new protection and control techniques
• Enhanced network performance and planning tools
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
Creation of intelligent diagnostic tools for plant and integrated
network planning / asset management
Reduction in the environmental impact of plant
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
Duration of benefit
once achieved
10 Years
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
20 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4 5 6 7
8
9
A NPV calculation has not yet been carried
out. NPV calculations will be undertaken
when the scope of projects that are of
interest are finalised. This will be done
prior to the first payment milestone
- C38 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Projects are in the early stages of commencement at the universities.
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
•
Project received funding from EPSRC (Dec 05)
Project list circulated amongst ENA member companies to
ensure industrial linkage to all projects
Steering group established
Commercial terms and conditions currently in negotiation
Project commenced March 06
Collaborative
Partners
National Grid, United Utilities, Scottish & Southern Energy, EDFEnergy, Western Power Distribution, Central Networks, CE Electric
UK, Northern Ireland Electric, EPSRC
R&D Providers
EPSRC selected universities – Manchester, Strathclyde, Liverpool,
Southampton, Edinburgh, Queens University Belfast
- C39 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C18: IFI 0506: Portable Smart Link (ASL )tester
Project Title
Portable Automatic Sectionalising Link (ASL) tester
Description of
project
The development of a portable ASL (‘smart’ link) tester for use in
the field to confirm performance prior to installation.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,727
External £7,000
Total
£8,727
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
£8,500
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £5,200
External £7,000
Total
£12,200
Auto-Sectionalising Links (ASLs) are extensively used on SP’s
overhead line networks in conjunction with pole mounted autoreclosing circuit breaker to minimise the numbers of Customer
Interruptions following a network fault.
SP has experienced some problems with mal-operations of an earlier
vintage of units. The ASL testers that can be distributed to
maintenance and fault operations overhead line staff that will allow
them to test ASLs in the field allowing healthy units to be reused
immediately on the network.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
No
No
No
Testing of ASLs in the field should enable healthy ASLs to be
reused immediately on the network following operation, this should
save money and operational time.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 Years
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C40 -
2
3
4
5
£63,970
6
7
8
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project has been delayed for 3 months due to technical
difficulties. These have been overcome and the project is on target
to deliver in 06/07.
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
•
Prototype built, general functionality accepted by SP,
however sine wave was not accurate enough at the extreme
ends of specified range.
Project redesigned following bench testing
Design currently being developed into commercial product
Final units expected July 06
Collaborative
Partners
Nortech, Cooper Bussmann, Access Hire Services LTD
R&D Providers
Nortech
- C41 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C19: IFI 0507: Smart Dust
Project Title
Smart Dust
Description of
project
This project will involve testing the capabilities of SmartDust Motes
and assessing the Project applications of sensor networks in
Distribution business.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £4,182
External £2,231
Total
£6,413
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
£312,400
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £1,700
External £46,000
Total
£47,700
The feasibility of the use of motes for as a medium for fault passage
indication is being investigated in this project, the aim being
increasing the efficiency of fault finding on the 11KV overhead
network ultimately reducing CML penalties
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
No
No
Yes
SmartDust implemented as a method of fault passage indication
could have an enormous effect on how faults on the overhead
network are located. They could have a huge impact on CI/CML
figures as the technology would be effectively pin pointing faults on
the network. This results in a significant financial saving
Other applications (brief summary of potential uses)
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
Duration of benefit
once achieved
5 Years
1
50%
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C42 -
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
£26,653
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project has been delayed for 3 months for technical and commercial
reasons
•
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
Project tendered to a range of product developers
Feasibility study let with Willow technologies / Crossbow
Feasibility study in progress awaiting completion and
reporting, expected June 06
Feasibility study identifying most suitable applications that
generic resources that can be used for.
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
Crossbow / Willow Technologies
- C43 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C20: IFI 0508: Development of Redox flow battery for energy storage
Project Title
Development of Redox flow battery for energy storage
Description of project
A part funded project through the DTI Technology Programme this
aims to develop (design, build, test and install) an 11kV 250kW
Redox flow battery unit for energy storage.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £2,995
External £0
Total
£2,995
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of innovation
involved
£477,984
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £2,400
External £3,360
Total
£5,760
Uses include, voltage support of long lines, overcoming reverse
power effects through transformers and potential improvements to
network performance. Development of a device which can be
connected the our 11kV network and provide power by charging
from the AC supply
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
This could provide financial benefits through offering solutions
through module stacks which may prevent the need to upgrade
certain parts of the network where voltage problems exist, thereby
providing potential savings.
Expected Benefits of
Project
By placing these devices in the network, voltage problems could be
reduced. Furthermore, a device could be employed where providing
a supply is difficult of costly. A unit could run in conjunction with a
small wind turbine to provide an islanded network.
As a replacement for current lead-acid batteries, this technology has
a low environmental impact.
One of the most significant outcomes expected of this project is the
understanding for how storage systems could be connected to the
network, and their likely applications.
Expected Timescale
to adoption
3 Years
Duration of benefit
once achieved
- C44 -
10 Years
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Probability of
Success
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability of
Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project Progress
March 06
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£84,716
Project is currently on target to deliver expected benefits.
•
•
•
•
•
Project commenced December 05
Collaboration agreement reached
Project successfully accepted at outline and full application
stages on DTI technology program
Application design commenced
Unit design commenced
Collaborative
Partners
DTI (via Technology Programme), ESD Ltd, Univ. of Southampton,
Econnect, Swanbarton Ltd
R&D Providers
ESD Ltd (project managers)
- C45 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C21: IFI 0509: Superconducting Fault Current Limiter
Project Title
Superconducting Fault Current Limiter
Description of
project
A part funded project through the DTI Technology Programme this
aims to design, develop and trial three 12kV Superconducting Fault
Current Limiting (SFCL) devices on three different UK networks.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £7,468
External £5,000
Total
£12,468
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
£2,345,967
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £17,000
External £125,303
Total
£142,303
The
development
of
a
non-linear
‘high-temperature’
superconducting ceramic in series with a circuit breaker for the
clamping and clearance of fault energy.
When the material is operated at below its critical temperature it
loses all electrical resistance, thereby allowing load current to flow
with negligible losses. Either the increased current density caused
by fault current, or the loss of cooling medium (liquid nitrogen)
causes the temperature of the superconducting material to rise and it
reverts to a normal resistive state.
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Being a solid state device, the SFCL has been proven to operate in a
few milliseconds, after which the impedance remains high until the
fault is cleared by conventional means (protection operated circuit
breakers, fuses, etc.). The SFCL’s operation is sufficiently fast to
ensure that the first peak of the fault current is limited. The
subsequent limited current can be set to suit a specific application.
Three devices (one per DNO) will be constructed and installed
covering a range of applications: transformer tails; bus section;
interconnected network connection. The successful completion of
this project is likely to pave the way for higher voltage devices.
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
To develop, understand and address the issues associated with the
connection of an 11kV fault current limiting device to the network.
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Successful trials will result in the development of commercially
available devices that are capable of clamping fault levels to within
network design limits. Once proven, this will open up another
option for tackling network fault level, potentially providing an
alternative to network reinforcement.
3 years
Duration of benefit
once achieved
- C46 -
20 years
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Probability of
Success
1
25%
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
£-267,191
Project NPV is negative due to the low TRL
/ high costs upon commencement
Project expected to commence Apr 06
•
Project Progress
March 06
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7 8
9
•
•
•
Project successfully accepted at outline and full application
stages on DTI technology programme
Detailed project milestones identified
Collaboration agreement in progress
Expected commencement April 06
Collaborative
Partners
DTI (via Technology Programme), United Utilities, CE Electric UK,
Applied Superconductors Ltd
R&D Providers
Applied Superconductors Ltd
- C47 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C22: IFI 0512: Broadband Power Carrier
Project Title
Broadband Power Carrier
Description of
project
The aim of this project is to investigate / develop an alternative
communication system that could be used on the SPPS network.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £2,838
External £3,400
Total
£6,238
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
£56,122 (potential)
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £ 0
External £0
Total
£0
The alternative communication system is for the purpose of
protection, tele-control, rural automation, smart metering and
continuous asset monitoring. If successful. it could give the 11kV
and LV network the ability to send communication signals along
existing conductors and through transformers.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
By using existing conductors to transmit communication signals for
automation, alarms, metering etc, there is no need for additional
pilot cables and hence a saving is made on materials and
maintenance.
By using the technology for tele-control and automation, CI and
CML figures can be reduced.
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 Years
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
50%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C48 -
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
-£6,238
NPV is negative as based on feasibility
stage alone
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project has been closed as the technology the feasibility study has
proved not to be at a mature enough technology to implement.
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
Feasibility trial carried out at Hoylake training centre.
Product had some interesting functionality but was
determined to be too far from market / costly to be
implemented on the network for purely network control, in
comparison with other communication products.
It was concluded that too much development work would
be required and the project would be taken no further. A
project to investigate the cost/benefits for alternative forms
of communication is likely to established in 06/07.
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
Plugnet, Open University
- C49 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C23: IFI 0513: Thermal modelling and Active Network Management
Project Title
Thermal modelling and Active Network Management
Description of
project
A part funded project through the DTI Technology Programme this
aims to optimise network design, operation and control by
exploitation of circuit thermal ratings.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £3,226
External £0
Total
£3,226
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
£903,000
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £25,000
External £50,000
Total
£75,000
The ratings given to circuits are a function of the temperature by
which they operate. The thermal status of a power system
component is determined by a number of factors such as current
flow, meteorological conditions and component heat transfer
characteristics.
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
This project seeks to explore the potential benefits arising from: (a)
the improved utilisation of power system assets through the use of
real time knowledge of the thermal status of the power system and
(b) the development of an active controller to facilitate this
exploitation and to balance those issues requiring action by
operational staff and those that can be dealt with by machine
intelligence.
The result of this work will be a prototype active controller, using
novel thermal state estimation and control techniques, installed on
the SP network.
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
Active network management and exploitation of equipment latent
thermal ratings may be a way of accommodating increased levels of
renewable generation in distribution networks cost effectively.
Improved utilisation of distribution assets resulting in deferral and/or
avoidance of reinforcement investments in distribution systems.
Expected Timescale
to adoption
2 Years
Probability of
Success
25%
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1
- C50 -
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project has been delayed for 3 months due to commercial
reasons.
•
Project Progress
March 06
£301,867
•
•
•
•
Project currently awaiting agreement from Siemens
(following takeover of VA Tech) to proceed with project.
Agreed deadline slip with DTI.
Project successfully accepted at outline and full application
stages on DTI technology program
Development of detailed project milestones
Collaboration agreement in negotiation
Project expected to commence Sept 06 following
appointment of Durham PhD student
Collaborative
Partners
DTI (via Technology Programme), Durham University, Imass,
Siemens, PB Power
R&D Providers
PB Power (project manager), as above
- C51 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C24: IFI 0514: Remote Line Temperature Monitor
Project Title
Remote Line Temperature Monitor
The project currently focuses on developing a system for monitoring
temperature on 11kV overhead line networks.
Description of
project
Expenditure for
financial year
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by
project
Type(s) of
innovation
involved
Expected Benefits
of Project
The delivered prototype will be a portable temperature monitor that
can be installed, assessed and evaluated in a number of locations
throughout the network.
Internal £2,925
External £10,000
Total
£12,925
£41,500
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £5,900
External £29,618
Total
£39,518
Fault and load monitor devices enhanced with temperature sensing
capabilities implemented in order to utilise the true capacities of
overhead line for use with generation connection schemes at 11kV.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
Knowledge of the thermal properties of a line may allow the release of
additional capacity reducing the cost of a generation connection at
11kV. This could have a significant effect on targeting capital spent
reduce environmental impact.
Using the FPI will give greater visibility of network faults potentially
leading to a reduction in Customer Minutes Lost (CML).
Expected
Timescale to
adoption
Probability of
Success
Duration of benefit
once achieved
2 Years
1
50%
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C52 -
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
£110,911
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project has been delayed 4 months due to technical and resource
issues
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
Stage 1 prototype completed
Successful modification of fault passage indicator to
monitor line temperature parameters
Scope of project extended to correlate line temperature with
real-time weather conditions
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
FMC Tech
- C53 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C25: IFI 0515: ScottishPower / Rolls-Royce Prototype Network
Project Title
ScottishPower / Rolls -Royce Prototype Network
Description of
project
Development of a prototyping network at Dealain House as a test-bed /
proving ground for active network management techniques and other
‘high risk’ technologies to allow the network to migrate from their
current forms towards a future vision / architecture.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £15,566
External £0
Total
£15,566
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
£7,200,000
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £10,000
External £1,000,000
Total
£1,010,000
The project was initiated to understand how the network is likely to
change with different types / penetrations of generation, and other
external factors across the PEST (Political, Economic, Sociological and
Technological) spectrum. The focus of the project has been the 11kV
and LV networks, focussing on a timeframe of 2020. By applying
results from scenarios to real models of the SP networks, potential
future conflicts can be identified.
Following from this analysis, an exercise was undertaken to identify the
technologies that could best meet the needs of the network.
A critical path item to the speed of technology adoption is the ability to
demonstrate projects on a real network. To address this, a high level
view of a network demonstrator has been defined.
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Phase 1
An understanding of the steady-state network design fundamentals as
the network evolves:
• Understanding of how the network is likely to change
• Identification of network hotspots as generation is applied to
different systems
• Identification of outline strategies to mitigate potential risk
• Identification of key technologies for development
Expected Benefits of
Project
Phase 2
Transfer and translation of the steady-state design to a more detailed
assessment of network performance showing the interaction of
components on a complex system
• Integration of existing assets to different types / penetrations
of generation
• Integration of mitigation technologies to existing network
• Test bed to prove the range of combinations / permutations
Primary output requirements
• Focus for SP capital expenditure
- C54 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Is the network we are currently rebuilding right for
2020+?
o How can we best meet least cost design and high
performance goals – best network design to do this
Analyse, test and prove tools and techniques for:
o CML / CI mitigation
o Load / Fault level management
o Statutory Obligations (voltage, frequency, etc)
o
•
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 Years
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability of
Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project Progress
March 06
20 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
£ 47,114
The project has been delayed for 1 month due to commercial reasons.
Phase 1 is due for completion May 06. Five work packages were
carried out in the six months of this project.
•
WP1 – System architecture, Phase 1 complete
•
WP2 – Protection and control, Phase 1 due May 06
•
WP3 – Demonstrator Design, Phase 1 due May 06
•
WP4 – Markets and Benefits, Phase 1 due April 06
•
WP5 – Product Business cases, Phase 1 due May 06
The scenario planning for 2020 deliverable under WP1, undertaken in
this project, has since been taken forward to the national Network
Architecture Horizon Scanning group under the Electricity Networks
Strategy Group (ENSG).
Collaborative
Partners
Rolls Royce, ITI Energy, University of Strathclyde
R&D Providers
University of Strathclyde (lead)
- C55 -
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C26: IFI 0517: GridSense LineTracker FPI (Conductor Temperature)
Project Title
Description of
project
Expenditure for
financial year
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Probability of
Success
GridSense LineTracker FPI (Conductor Temperature)
The LineTracker is a fault and load monitor device from which data
is downloaded wirelessly to a control centre at 33kV.
The key aims are to add conductor and ambient temperature to
LineTracker and increase voltage withstand for operation at 132kV.
Internal £1,043
External £0
Total
£1,043
£66,000
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £7,200
External £67,000
Total
£74,200
Fault and Load Monitor devices enhanced with temperature sensing
capabilities implemented in order to utilise the true capacities of OH
Line for use with generation connection schemes at 33kV
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
No
No
Yes
Knowledge of the thermal properties of a line may allow the release
of additional capacity reducing the cost of a generation connection at
33kV. This could have a significant effect on targeting capital spent
reduce environmental impact.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
1 Year
50%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
- C56 -
20 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6 7
8
9
£243,458
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project is on target to deliver.
•
Collaborative
Partners
This project is being led by United Utilities with SP buying
into the programme (linking with project IFI 0406)
• Formal reporting has being provided to UU at each
milestone and the project is progressing to the scheduled
timescales and costs.
• The project should be completed in July with a number of
prototype units available for trial. It may be necessary to
purchase additional devices to allow a reasonable
assessment of the developed devices in various
applications. This will give a greater understanding of the
potential benefits, which will be needed to build a case for
adoption
• It is anticipated that SP and UU will collaborate in a trial of
the developed devices and share the experience of the trial.
United Utilities (this is a project being led by UU, SP are buying
into the p rogramme during 2006/07)
R&D Providers
GridSense
Project Progress
March 06
- C57 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C27: IFI 0520: Energy Storage Devices for Distribution Networks
Project Title
Energy Storage Devices for Distribution Networks
Description of
project
This project aims to investigate the feasibility of using different type
of energy storage devices on the distribution network as a means of
balancing distributed generation outputs with load demands
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £4,375
External £1,000
Total
£5,375
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
£TBC
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £2,500
External £10,000
Total
£12,500
The project aims to investigate technologies which will make
distributed generation connections make feasible by helping to
resolve some of the issues they cause on distribution network
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
No
No
Yes
Distributed generation connections could be made more feasible by
lowering negating the need for reinforcements.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 Years
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
-£4,677
The first phase of this project is only a
feasibility study, hence the NPV is –ve, the
project scope is likely to increase
significantly when development areas are
identified
- C58 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project has been delayed for 3 months due to technical and
resource issues.
•
•
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
SP have been members of SHFCA for 1 year
SP have gained up to date industry knowledge of:
Status of Development of Hydrogen Fuel Cells (FCs) with
respect to micro FC’s, Automotive FCs and static power
(UPS and Primary Power)
Possibility of using FCs for development projects (IFI) for
UPS system (Grid S/S)
SP current stance is that FCs currently hold no application
with EnergyNetworks
SP however realize the impact FCs could have on Networks
will utilise this information on the prototype network
project
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA)
- C59 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C28: IFI 0522: Supergen III
Project Title
Supergen 3 – Highly Distributed Power Systems
The SUPERGEN Highly Distributed Power Systems Consortium
will address the research challenges associated with a systems
approach to the design, operation and control of highly distributed
power systems (HDPS).
Description of
project
Expenditure for
financial year
It is the systems approach, the development of modular solutions and
methods to support the realisation of highly distributed power
systems (microgeneration, storage, etc), and importantly the focus on
rigorous analysis methods for integrated technical, economic and
environmental appraisal of such systems that both sets it apart from
and complements other research initiatives.
Internal £1043
External £0
Total
£1043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
£TBC
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £2000
External £0
Total
£2000
The key objectives of the consortium’s programme of work are:
• Identify the most effective conceptual design for the
realisation of a highly distributed power system (HDPS)
• Creation of an integrated appraisal framework for the
economic, environmental and technical assessment of
HDPS
• Assessment of market transformation and network access
approaches in support of HDPS development.
• Realise a simulation facility capable of characterising,
modelling and appropriately analysing the behaviour of a
HDPS
• Engineering of management and control system for
effective coordination of Distributed Energy Resources
(DERs) in HDPS
• Realisation of DER inverter interface and control modes
compatible with HDPS control, protection and power
quality requirements
• Demonstration of modular DER integration and interfacing
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
•
•
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
•
•
•
New demand and generation profiles
Cumulative and interactive behaviour of many small DERs,
in particular <5MVA units.
Network integration of many small DERs, and mechanisms
for “plug and play” integration.
Impact on operational management.
Device performance, in particular the incorporation of
network added-value features.
- C60 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
•
•
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Operational planning with DERs, to support network
investment against hard constraints.
Market mechanisms, including charging mechanisms and
the effectiveness of long term and short term market signals
to influence DER behaviour.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 Years
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project Progress
March 06
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
N/A
Assessment not made as this project has no
SP-EN cost input
Programme has recently commenced and is currently on target.
•
•
EPSRC funding obtained
Project commenced
Collaborative
Partners
EPSRC, Rolls Royce, plus letters of support from other industrial
partners
R&D Providers
University of Strathclyde (lead), Loughborough University,
University of Manchester, University of Oxford, University of Bath,
Imperial College
- C61 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C29: IFI 0527: Testing Procedure for ROCOF relays
Project Title
Description of
project
Testing Procedure for ROCOF relays
Testing will be carried out on a range of “loss of mains” relays in
order to develop a clear understanding of the stability of these
relays when confronted by a range of network disturbances
applied at a range of relay settings.
This information will be used to develop a matrix of optimum
settings and test procedures for relay specification.
Expenditure for
financial year
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological
area and / or issue
addressed by
project
Type(s) of
innovation
involved
Internal £2,163
External £2,688
Total
£4,851
£22,492
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
Internal £1,800
External £2,000
Total
£3,800
Production of relays and identification of protection settings to be
used in network protection schemes, which enable the protection
to function nominally when subjected to a range of disturbances,
which may be found on current and future distribution networks.
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
No
No
No
On completion of the work there will be an improved
understanding of loss of mains relays and how they respond to
system disturbances and genuine loss of mains, which will enable
more effective settings to be applied to relays. More effective
settings will reduce the number of spurious trips of generator
installations due to system disturbances.
Expected Benefits
of Project
Reducing generator trips will result in savings in operational time
and prevent the cost incurred by loss of generation whilst also
reducing disturbances to other connected customers improving
quality of supply.
An improved understanding and confidence in the quality of loss
of mains relays will reduce the time for producing a scheme
design and negate to need to fit inter-tripping. This would result
in a substantial saving in installation costs making more
embedded generation schemes economically viable
Expected
Timescale to
adoption
2 Years
Duration of benefit
once achieved
- C62 -
10 Years
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Probability of
Success
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x
Probability of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving
expected benefits
Project Progress
March 06
TRL Development (Start – Current)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£157,009
The project has been delayed by 6 months due to technical
reasons
•
•
•
Selected settings for selected relays determined
Knowledge of how these relays react to disturbances on
the 33 kV and 11 kV networks gained
The setting selection process is bring carried out with a
number of different relays
Collaborative
Partners
CE Electric, Central Networks, EDF Energy, National Grid,
Scottish and Southern Energy, United Utilities, Western Power
Distribution
R&D Providers
University of Strathclyde
- C63 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C30: IFI 0528: Hydrogen Electrolyser / Storage DTI Submission
Project Title
WINDSTOR - Hydrogen Electrolyser / Storage DTI Submission
Description of
project
This was an unsuccessful submission to September 05 DTI
Technology Programme competition for funding. Its purpose was to
develop and evaluate an integrated electrolyser/hydrogen/fuel cell
energy storage system applied to a distribution network constrained
wind farm output, with additional output into the transport system.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1043
External £0
Total
£1043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Internal £ 0
External £0
Total
£0
WINDSTOR is an innovative applied research project that aims to
lead to the integration of a novel electrolyser/hydrogen/fuel cell
energy storage system applied to a distribution network constrained
wind farm output.
Projected 06/07 costs
for SP-EN
£2,550,000
The project will further involve the development of a fuel cell utility
vehicle, fuelled by electrolyser hydrogen off-gas. The aims of the
project include the development of PEM fuel cell technology,
hydrogen storage and electrolyser plant, their integration for utility
applications, techno-economic evaluations, performance assessments
and the development of a fuel cell utility vehicle and its fuelling
infrastructure.
WINDSTOR aimed to offer multiple exploitation routes to multiple
applications, with a range of significant benefits spanning the power
utilities, renewables, fuel cells, hydrogen systems, transport and
academic sectors.
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
No
No
No
Yes
Understanding of hydrogen storage applications to distribution
networks, potentially reducing the need for high capacity circuits to
be built for variable source generation.
Expected Timescale
to adoption
3 Years
Probability of
Success
25%
Duration of benefit
once achieved
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
N/A
Project failed to receive funding, and was
stopped. A detailed NPV was not completed.
- C64 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
Project Progress
March 06
Collaborative
Partners
Project closed
•
Project failed to receive DTI grant, SP-EN have decided
not to pursue this technology at this time.
ScottishPower Generation, EA Technology Ltd, plus others
- C65 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C31: IFI 0529: ESR network (ESR 21)
Project Title
ESR network (ESR 21)
Description of
project
The ESR Network is an academia / industry exchange to identify and
link university funded projects to key industry stakeholders.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £2,211
External £6,000
Total
£8,211
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
£213,000
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £1,800
External £3,000
Total
£4,800
This network covers the majority of the UK universities and
monitors all electricity related research activities funded by EPSRC,
DTI (Technology Programme), etc.
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
No
§
§
§
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
ESR Network, the successor to ERCOS (Electricity Research Cofunding Scheme), acts as a dat a exchange between industry and
academia for research activities. Originally established to manage a
programme of 34 funded projects, it was initially co-funded between
industrial partners and the EPSRC. Since 2003 the network has been
funded entirely be network members (both industrial and academic).
§
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Yes
No
Yes
Monitoring / data exchange of all EPSRC funded projects
submitted in ‘responsive mode’
Monitoring / data exchange of other UK/EU research
initiatives (e.g. Supergen 3, UKERC both presented at the
Oct 05 meeting)
Network of academic contacts
Network of industrial contacts
Duration of benefit
once achieved
0 Years
3 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
-£16,445
This project encompasses a number of small projects each at
differing stages of development
- C66 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
§
Project Progress
March 06
The Network currently monitors 56 projects across the
electricity sector (see website for details)
Research Strategies:
§ ESR Network research strategy 'An Integrated Approach to
Structural Integrity in Electrical Power Plant (INSTEPP)'
§ ESR Network research strategy 'Particulates in Electricity
Generation Plant (PARTICEL)'
§ ESR Network research strategy 'Tools for power system
operation in a competitive environment (TOPSYNC)'
§ 'COndition Monitoring of Electrical Transmission and
distribution plant (COMET)'
ESR Network R&D Matrix has been published in IEE Power
Engineer, IEE Power Engineer, June/July 2004, pp 20-23, entitled
"Match Making"
Industrial: Scottish Power Generation, QinetiQ, National Grid,
BNFL, Magnox Generation, SERCO Assurance, VATECH
Reyrolle, ABB Switzerland Ltd, RWE Innogy Plc, ALSTOM
Power, SP Power Systems Ltd, AREVA T&D (Technology Centre),
E-ON UK (Power Technology Centre)
Collaborative
Partners
Academic: Brunel University, Cranfield University, Glasgow
Caledonian University, Imperial College London, Loughborough
University, Queen's University of Belfast, The University of
Birmingham, The University of Nottingham, University of Bath,
University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University of Kent,
University of Leeds, University of Manchester, University of
Southampton, University of Strathclyde, University of Sussex,
University of Wales Swansea, University of Cambridge
Government: DTI, EPSRC
R&D Providers
See above academics
- C67 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C32: IFI 0530: Optimising Voltage Control/Var performance of a large scale WF
Project Title
Optimising Voltage Control/Var performance of a large scale WF
Description of
project
Applied research work to identify an alternative voltage control
solution for a 60MW 132kV connected windfarm, in a complex
network with a high degree of legacy generation.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £3,732
External £1,957
Total
£5,690
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
£2,750
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £ 0
External £0
Total
£0
A 132kV-connected windfarm is being investigated with aim to
control real and reactive power flow to maintain the 132kV system
voltage at the wind farm substation to within the range +7%, -4%.
Currently if the windfarm is unable to maintain voltage to within
these limits a trip signal is automatically sent by the DNO to the
open the connecting circuit breakers.
The existing network is weak and subject to high network losses.
The windfarm manages voltage control to stay connected within the
technical limits.
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
No
Yes
No
No
Keeping the wind farm voltage steady without rapid changes stops
the tap changers from excessive operation, leading to a longer
lifetime and lower maintenance costs.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
0 Years
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
£11,622
The project has been completed successfully, but requires further
work in order to realise benefits.
- C68 -
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
•
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
Report on project completed
New methodology for control of multiple generation
sources
Commercial restraints (existing generation) have meant that
new methodology is unfeasible
Further development will be fed into the AURA-NMS (IFI
0532) project
Collaborative
Partners
N/A
R&D Providers
University College London (UCL)
- C69 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C33: IFI 0532: AURA-NMS
Project Title
AURA-NMS (Automated Regional Active Network Management
System)
Description of
project
This project aims to produce a control structure and set of control
algorithms that realise the notion of an active distribution network
and enhance the service a network operator provides to load and
generation customers, improving network performance (asset use,
etc.).
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £3,232
External £0
Total
£3,232
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
£5,760,000
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £22,000
External £300,000
Total
£322,000
The SP portion of this work is to focus on constraint management
techniques for use on new / existing generation connections,
focussing on the 33kV and 132kV networks. Although relevant to
both SP-D and SP-M networks, the primary focus in case studies
will be to overcome existing limitations in SP -M.
§ Overcome complexity of existing hard-wired
intertripping schemes
§ Determine a solution for managing multiple generation
connections in a given locality
§ Develop and implement a system that can work in
harmony with existing SCADA infrastructure
§ Overcome communications / equipment limitations of
existing SCADA systems
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
Yes
No
No
§
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
§
§
Development of a constraint management solution from
the top academics in the UK
Implement solution and prove concept
Potential to create Registered Power Zone for additional
revenue on the DG incentive
3 Years
Duration of
benefit once
achieved
- C70 -
20 Years
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Probability of
Success
TRL Development (Start – Current)
25%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for achieving
expected benefits
Project Progress March
06
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£-101,918
The project has been delayed for 5 months due to
commercial factors and is planned to commence 06/07.
§
§
§
Preliminary approval from EPSRC for funding
Outline Memorandum of Understanding circulated
between partners
Detailed specification, milestones and deliverables
currently in development
Collaborative Partners
ABB, EDF-Energy, EPSRC Strategic Partnership
(Universities: Imperial College London (lead), Strathclyde,
Durham, Edinburgh, Loughborough, )
R&D Providers
ABB, Universities: Imperial College London (lead),
Strathclyde, Durham, Edinburgh
- C71 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C34: IFI 0535: Radiometric Arc Fault Location
Project Title
Radiometric Arc Fault Location
Description of
project
Applied research, and follow up installation of a system to
triangulate fault locations on overhead lines from the high
frequency radio wave signatures produced from an arcing fault.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,043
External £0
Total
£1,043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
£292,000
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £2,500
External £15,000
Total
£17,500
The principle of the technology is:
• There is a correlation between RF discharges and network
faults on overhead lines
• The RF signal can be picked up by a radio antenna up to
around 70km away
• If antennae are spread across the network, a mesh is
formed – in a similar manner to the GSM network
• If a fault can be accurately clocked, triangulation can be
used from a number of base stations to give an
approximate geographic location (accuracy ~300m)
• If this information is linked to GIS / SCADA data a more
accurate fault location can be obtained
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
No
Yes
No
No
If successful, the use of radiometric ‘cells’ could be used to
accurately locate fault locations on all overhead line networks
within that zone.
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 Years
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
1
25%
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
2
3
4
5
£45,787
Project is planned to commence September 06.
- C72 -
6
7
8
9
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Project Progress
March 06
•
•
•
•
Preliminary Approval
Project tabled with ENA R&D working group
Technical Specification Developed
Project expected to commence Sept 06
Collaborative
Partners
Potential ENA member companies
R&D Providers
University of Strathclyde
- C73 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C35: IFI 0536: ENA Earthing Project
Project Title
ENA Earthing Project (OSG SG14)
Description of
project
This Project aims to develop new techniques to assess the impact
lower voltage earth electrodes of higher voltage ‘hot zones’, and to
measure the resistance of distribution substation earth systems.
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,043
External £0
Total
£1,043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
£27,000
Yes
•
•
Expected Timescale
to adoption
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £700
External £3,125
Total
£3,825
The project will provide greater understanding of the interaction
between unconnected earthing systems. In particular an ability to
better assess the extent to which a 'cold' earthing system modifies the
extent of the ROEP contours around a 'hot substation earth system.
Technological
Incremental
Significant
Radical
substitution
•
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
No
No
No
Greater understanding of the interaction between
unconnected earthing systems.
Avoidance of additional work at around 300 substations/yr
to provide extended separation of electrodes.
Avoidance of 5% chance of major diversions required of
BT apparatus due to ROEP zones
Duration of benefit
once achieved
2 Years
8 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
50%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£81,165
Different to ENA ‘standard’ as figures have
been passed through SP NPV methodology
- C74 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project has been delayed for 5 months due to commercial
factors.
•
Project Progress
March 06
•
Initial research work was completed to determine whether
there was a need for further work in this area. The outcome
of this justified further work being carried out.
The earthing consultant has been in discussions with the
various DNOs to identify suitable sites for testing to be
carried out. Sites have been made available within CN and
WPD and the testing work commenced. It is not yet known
whether savings will be achieved until the outcome of the
testing work is known.
Collaborative
Partners
CE Electric, Central Networks, EDF Energy, National Grid, Scottish
and Southern Energy, United Utilities, Western Power Distribution
R&D Providers
Strategy & Solutions
- C75 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Table C36: IFI 0537: ENA Lightning Protection
Project Title
ENA Lightning Protection (develop ETR 134)
Description of
project
The project aims to produce a new ETR on lightning protection with
a Scope that covers:· background information on the lightning
density across the UK· advice on equipment protection levels and
arrangements· catalogue practices and procedures – with an
explanation· provide a view on international practices / proce dures·
reference peripheral issues (such as earthing and protection) were
these are applicable· provide a list of reference documents
Expenditure for
financial year
Internal £1,043
External £0
Total
£1,043
Project Value
(Collaborative +
external + SP-EN)
Technological area
and / or issue
addressed by project
Type(s) of
innovation involved
Expected Benefits of
Project
Expected Timescale
to adoption
£6,901
Expenditure in
previous (IFI)
financial years
Internal N/A
External N/A
Total
N/A
Projected 06/07
costs for SP-EN
Internal £700
External £0
Total
£700
The project aims to investigate ways of assets from damage caused
by lightning
Incremental
Significant
Technological
substitution
Radical
Yes
No
No
No
•
•
•
Reduction in Failure/faults due to lightning
Improved risk assessment
Reduction in CML's
Duration of benefit
once achieved
3 Years
10 Years
TRL Development (Start – Current)
Probability of
Success
50%
1
Project NPV (Present Benefits x Probability
of Success) – Present Costs
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£79,773
Different to ENA ‘standard’ as figures have
been passed through SP NPV methodology
- C76 -
IFI Annual Report 05/06
Potential for
achieving expected
benefits
The project is on target.
Project Progress
March 06
Document is close to completion.
Collaborative
Partners
CE Electric, Central Networks, EDF Energy, National Grid, Scottish
and Southern Energy, United Utilities, Western Power Distribution
- C77 -